If I Could I Would Not Love You
by deathrosekitty
Summary: Ino knows that she could never let go of Sasuke. Not from the first moment she remembers knowing him. SasukeInoNeji with SakuraNaruto
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Naruto.**

_Ino knows that she could never let go of Sasuke. Not from the first moment she remembers knowing him. SasukeInoNeji with SakuraNaruto hints_

**If I Could I Would Not Love You**

"It's been two years, Ino. You think he'll come back." Sakura stated in the innocent way she seemed to have claimed all her own.

The blond girl smirked. The two girls were currently cleaning up the Uchiha compound... as they did every week... "Only because he realized he missed me so much. Not because of a forehead like you." The name-calling was always easier than facing the reality.

Sakura smiled, "Okay Pig. I have to go back to the hospital. Naruto got himself into some trouble earlier."

"Are you going to nurse him back to life? I feel bad for that poor boyfriend of yours!" Ino teased.

"He's not my boyfriend, you fat pig!" The blond girl laughed as her best friend stomped out of the house. A blush complimented her cheeks.

Ino finished her work inside the house. She locked and shut the door behind her like always. The Uchiha household had become a second home to her... well actually, it had always been a second home. The loud girl sighed as she realized that no one really knew why she was always so obsessed with Sasuke. Hell! She felt stupid for just thinking of it now and not years earlier!

"Then again... Years ago was... different." She spoke to herself. Ino decided to slip to the backyard and sit amongst the withered flowers. "Years ago..."

The blond girl remembered what she didn't want to.

_"Ino chan, come on! Let's go see my older brother, Itachi! Maybe he'll train you too!" A young hyperactive Sasuke shouted. Ino smiled back, "Alright!"_

_It shocked her when he grabbed her hand, but she smiled even more._

**XXX**

_"Sakura likes you, you know." Ino replied calmly. She had rehearsed this conversation for hours on end. It had been a promise to the pink haired girl to try to get them together._

_"So?" Sasuke scrunched up his nose._

_Ino giggled, "Maybe you two would be good together!"_

_"No thanks. I don't need a girlfriend when I'm gonna become as strong as Itachi! You're gonna become strong with me, right? After all you are my best friend!"_

_"Of course, someone has to make sure you stay in your place!"_

_"Hey!" Sasuke glomped her and they wrestled around until his older brother pulled them a part. The three of them laughed._

**XXX**

_Sasuke smirked as he walked up to Ino and her friends. Sakura wasn't there, so there wouldn't be any problem. He was sick of girls liking him for no good reason. "Ino..."_

_"Yeah," Ino smiled at her friend, "Whatcha need, Uchiha?"_

_The pretty boy smirked, "This." He gave her a quick kiss on the lips as he saw his mom and dad do. "You're gonna be an Uchiha when you grow up!"_

_The shocked faces of her and her friends amused him and the happy boy ran off laughing._

**XXX**

_The young Uchiha had found his blond friend crying under a couple of bushes near his house. He was instantly concerned for her. "Ino, what's wrong!?"_

_"You... should... KNOW!" She sobbed into his shirt after he hugged her._

_Sasuke questioned her again. "No. I don't. Now will you please tell me what happened?"_

_"Some stupid person started a rumor that I liked you and Sakura said that we can't be friends anymore! She said that we have to be rivals..." Ino hic- upped._

_The Uchiha glared down at the bush. "She shouldn't have done that." He said no more until Ino calmed down, "Don't worry, Ino. I'll always be your best friend!"_

_"Do you promise?"_

_"I promise."_

**XXX**_._

_"They're dead. All of them are dead, Ino." Sasuke stated in an unemotional tone. "Itachi killed them all."_

_The blond girl could do no more than sit on the side of his bed and stare at the floor. She didn't know how to deal with it._

_"I'm going to get my revenge."_

_Ino nodded. "I'll support you in whatever you choose to do."_

_Sasuke reached out his left hand to touch her chin and make her face him. "You promise? You won't get in the way."_

_"I promise."_

_The last Uchiha nodded. "I think it would be best if we not be friends anymore."_

_Ino cut him off from finishing his sentence, "But you promised you'd be my best friend!"_

_"Stop it, Ino. We'll still be friends, but we have to keep it secret. No one needs to know. If they do they could use you against me."_

_"Al-Alright, if you say so…"_

_"One more thing, promise you won't tell anyone of what happened to my family."_

_"Of course, Sasuke."_

**XXX**

_"What do you mean you're LEAVING!?" Ino screamed._

_Sasuke sighed, "Listen. I came to tell you so you would know before anyone else. They'll find out on their own."_

_"You can't LEAVE!"_

_He glared at her, "Ino. You promised you wouldn't get in the way."_

_"Yes." Ino sat on her bed defeated. "Fine, then leave."_

_Sasuke kneeled in front of her. He stroked her cheek with his hand. "I'll come back for you. I promise."_

_The tears escaped from the blond girls eyes. She had promised him that she would never cry again, but she just couldn't bear letting him go. Ino thought it was a rare blessing on her when Sasuke's eyes softened and he let his guard down for her._

_"Ino, I love you."_

_He pulled her head down gently to meet his waiting lips. They had kissed many times before without anyone knowing, but this felt different then the scattered ones of 'I'll tell them we're together later.' Moreover, 'don't worry about anyone else right now, Ino.' She knew what this one meant._

_Ino watched Sasuke hop out of her window and into the night. The tears swept freely down her beautiful face. "You've never kept any of your promises, Sasuke. This is just another broken one... but I guess it was sweet enough to give me a goodbye kiss."_

**XXX**

Ino gave a shaky sigh.

"Sakura was right when she said I would find you here."

Surprise etched into the blond girls features as she saw the Hyuga protégé staring down at her. Ino wiped the tears away, the signs of weakness. Neji ignored them for her.

"We are needed for another mission."

A year into Sasuke's absence from Konoha and Ino was placed with Neji to go on duet missions. Everyone said that their skills went supremely well together, but it was actually just a plot to get the two together. It was never going to happen.

The two walked silently to the Hokage tower Neji spoke. "Yamanaka, why don't you let go of the past?"

"Why didn't you when you were younger?" Ino shot back. She wasn't going to be buddy-buddy with someone who was a rival of Sasuke's.

Neji grabbed her arm. The two stared down each other. "You should trust me by now, Ino. I've proven myself to guard your body, why can't you tell me what's going on in your mind?"

"You wouldn't understand." Ino stated as she gazed at everything, except the pretty boy.

The Hyuga let her arm go as she stared at him again, "I might not understand it, but I do know that we've been working together for almost a year... I consider you important to me... No matter how weak you are."

"Gee. Thanks." She sarcastically shot at him.

Neji's eyes softened, "I've fallen in love with you, Ino."

Ino jumped back in shock, "Yeah right! All we do is fight and argue and almost kill each other!"

"However, despite that, I know it sounds insane. I never thought that I would want someone as loud and vulgar as you."

"You can stop now." Ino snorted as she stopped Neji from finishing his sentence again.

"It seems you're perfect for me actually." He stepped up to her.

"How am I perfect for you?"

"You keep me aware of things I would never otherwise think of, you fight with me when others would just do what I say. Ino, you do so many things that help and annoy me I can't think of anything else but you!"

Ino pushed him away. She wished that the Hyuga would have fallen, but she knew she wasn't good enough to do that. "It's not gonna happen, so leave me alone!"

"What do you think is going to happen, Ino? Sasuke is not going to come back. You should know that better than any of us." Neji glared at her for rejecting him.

Ino screamed at him, "Yeah, so! I' D RATHER DIE ALONE YOU ASS!"

Neji stopped her from running. The stubborn girl tried to get away, but the equally stubborn boy wrestled her to the ground. His legs tangled with her so she couldn't kick him and he held down her arms as well. "He didn't love you, Ino."

"SHUT UP!"

"He wouldn't have left if he did."

"I SAID SHUT UP!"

Neji sighed at her, "He would have listened to you."

"Shut up." Ino went limp as she broke down. He let go of her arms and picked her up. The pretty boy carried her over into the nearby woods. He sat down with the blond girl settled down on his lap. She was still crying.

Ino shook and pushed at him weakly, "Bastard! Don't you think I know all of this about him already?"

Neji didn't say anything. He just held her until she calmed down.

"If I could I wouldn't love him. If I could I would... be with you, but I promised." She stopped the Hyuga before he added anything negative. "I know that he'll never keep any of his promises, but I'll never break any of mine. I won't be like him."

Neji decided to let go of Ino's reasoning instead of arguing with her. "Do you love me?"

"What will happen if I say yes?" Ino tried to get up, but he held on tight.

"Then I'll let you keep your promises."

The blond girl finally managed to stand. She stared down at Neji, "Then shouldn't you already know the answer to your question."

"I do." He admitted, "But I want you to realize it as well that you love me just as much as him."

The two headed to the Hokage tower without talking again. Neji settled for a silent truce. He would bother her more later when she wasn't thinking about Sasuke.

Ibiki and Anko stopped them before they entered. Anko smirked at them, "Hey! Uchiha is back."

Ino's jaw dropped and Neji's clenched. The two older jounin left the couple there alone. Neji turned to her. "I will fight for you."

_'What am I supposed to do?' _Ino asked herself.

**Review please. It stared out as inspiration of chibi SasuIno-ness, but turned into this. Therefore, if you're interested in more, you better review!**


	2. Chapter 2

Neji and Ino entered Tsunade's room. They went their separate ways upon arrival. Neji went to his group and Ino to hers. The blond girl noticed that all of the furniture was gone with whatever documents that their Hokage was always working on.

Ino looked at Sasuke last. She couldn't believe how much he had grown. The pretty boy looked much calmer than he had been before he left, but she knew he was still as angry as ever. The blond girl continued to stare at him as Tsunade talked to the counsel. He had a red haired girl wrapped around his right arm.

The Yamanaka girl was a part of the left side of the room. The rookie nine were there with her. Sakura was trying to calm down Naruto. Ino smiled as she noticed that they were holding hands. Hinata gave worried glances between Naruto and Sasuke. She was completely oblivious to the handholding. Kiba and Shino didn't look interested at all, which went along with how her own teammates, Chouji and Shikamaru, were acting.

On the other side of the room were their sensei's and Neji's team. Neji was staring straight at her instead of paying attention to the Uchiha traitor. Ino blushed as she looked away. The Hyuuga knew her to well. He was watching in case she needed him, which she felt like she did right now. Ino couldn't deal with seeing Sasuke again.

The blond girl was fidgeting and being unusually quiet. To make matters worse, Tenten caught Neji blatantly staring at her and now she was staring as well. Lee was as oblivious as Hinata.

Ino sighed to herself. The group of old men at the front of the room was scaring her. She had never liked them because they were always mean and rude.

She sent a 'help' look towards Sakura, who had mouthed an 'it won't be that bad' back. Ino squared her shoulders, while avoiding Neji's eyes. She stared at the back of Sasuke's head.

_I hope this is over with soon._

**XXX**

Sasuke moved his head to see the last two people that would join in the debate. His fingers itched to hold his katana and cut the counsel members who were so close to him. However, it wasn't the time to kill them for his brother. He had to obey the plan…

The Uchiha was distracted when he noticed that it was Ino and the Hyuuga that was late for the meeting. Sasuke couldn't help but narrow his eyes when he saw Neji's hand at the small of Ino's back. The two quickly went their separate ways on different sides of the room.

What had Ino been doing behind his back since he was gone?

Sasuke kept a hold of his anger as best as he could. He knew that she'd be angry because he had never kept any of his promises, but he never expected that she would break hers.

After all, that was how the pretty boy had kept her as 'his' for so long. Now he skimmed up his new rival. Neji wasn't paying Sasuke any attention. The Uchiha followed the older boys eyes back to Ino, who was staring at everything except Sasuke.

Ino would learn that if she left him, then she would have no one at all.

Sasuke heard bits and pieces of Tsunade trying to argue for him. He had wanted to come back to Konoha just to destroy it, but it seemed that Ino had caught his interest again. In addition, it was just by showing that she was over him.

Karin was all over Sasuke. He wasn't in the place to tell her to get off like he wanted to because of the counsel. If they thought that he was still trying to find a woman to help him bring back the Uchiha clan, then they would never allow him back. The pretty boy saw Ino give the girl a small once over before staring at him without looking away. Sasuke smirked. Maybe Ino wasn't that out of his control just yet…

The wait for the meeting to begin was wearing on Sasuke's patience. He had already been standing here an hour with just Tsunade and now he had to wait for the old men to finally wear down and give him permission to come back. Suigetsu had fallen asleep in their hotel room and Juugo was patiently waiting behind Sasuke.

One of the counsel members coughed loudly and the meeting began.

**XXX**

Neji didn't like the nervous, flighty look that Ino had. She had decided to gaze at Sasuke quite a while ago and Neji was worried that she would break at seeing another girl all over the traitor.

Tenten poked him. "Psst! Why are you staring at Ino?"

"Be quiet, Tenten." The Hyuuga male hushed. He had never been able to admit to his female teammate that he had no interest in her, but he knew that they would have to talk about it soon.

Neji ignored it all for now. If Ino needed him, then he would get her out of here. She seemed to be able to take care of herself so far, but it was clear that she wasn't at all comfortable.

Sasuke gazed sideways at Neji, but he ignored it. There would be no way that he'd fight with Sasuke today and risk losing Ino forever. No risk was worth losing Ino.

The Hyuuga still struggled with his feelings for the blond girl. On one point he knew that he was devoted and in love with her. On the other hand, Neji knew that they didn't match in the least bit and that he should have a relationship with Tenten rather than the loud blond girl.

Fate was damned ever since Naruto changed Neji's point of view. He didn't care that they were completely opposite. All he cared was that he wanted Ino and he wanted to make sure their relationship worked, no matter what.

Neji continued to stare at Ino. She gave him a quick glance, and then looked back at Sasuke. He understood that today was overwhelming for her. After all, he had cornered her with his feelings and made her come to grips with her own. Now Sasuke was back in Konoha.

He didn't need fate to know that if the traitor was accepted back that Ino would be torn a part by both of them fighting over her.

A cough by one of the counsel announced the start of the debate of whether to accept Uchiha Sasuke and his friends into Konoha or not.

This was not going to be a good conversation and Neji already knew what the outcome would be.

**XXX**

Ino barely registered the arguing in the room. She was too busy thinking of when Neji and she had been on missions. They were the missions when they had actually gotten along instead of fighting.

_Neji sighed at Ino's giggling. They had completed the spy mission two days before the deadline. The blond girl had managed to convince her male comrade to let her look into a shop she wanted to go into since they arrived._

"_We should head back if we're done. Spending time with these frivolous things is pointless." Neji argued._

_Ino pouted, "But I just want to find a pretty dress to wear in case I need it for the next mission!"_

"_There's no point in that. You don't need anything to make you even more beautiful as you are now."_

_Ino smiled at the older male. "Awe, you are so sweet Neji! It's nice to know you think I'm pretty."_

_The blond girl cackled at his bright red blush. She loved teasing him so much._

_Neji stayed in a corner of the small store as Ino searched each rack for something perfect. She finally found something that she had wanted to try on._

_He followed her over to where the dressing room was and waited outside for her. Ino had never decided whether she liked Neji being overprotective of her or not, but it was amusing either way._

_Ino stared down at the white dress underneath her fingers. It was tight for the chest and waist and the skirt of it flowed out nicely. She liked the spaghetti straps that it had. As she took it off the hanger to try it on, the loud girl already knew she was going to buy it._

_When the dress was on Ino stared at herself cryptically. Outside the stall, she could hear Neji sigh loudly._

"_Are you done yet?"_

"_Yes…" Ino answered as she left the dressing room to show Neji how the dress looked on her. She stopped to see his jaw lower a little bit before he placed his 'stoic' look back on his face._

_It was too late. Ino saw the look and giggled. "I'm glad you like it Neji, because I'm going to wear it all the way home!"_

_Neji glared at her. "You're going to ruin it then."_

"_No, I'm not. I'm going to let you carry me home!" Ino smirked._

"_I highly doubt that."_

Ino smiled as Sakura and Naruto cheered. She looked around with a confused face. "What happened?"

"Haven't you been paying attention at all, Ino?" Sakura scolded. "Sasuke is welcomed back!"

"Oh," The smile slipped from the loud girl's face. This meant trouble.

**I'm going to revise the first chapter sometime later, but for now, ENJOY THIS!**


	3. Chapter 3

Ino was just about to slip out from the room like everyone else was, but Tsunade called out to her.

"Hey, Ino and Neji, stay here! You two have a mission?"

The blond girl winced as she turned back into the room and walked over to where Neji was standing with his team. They left after she arrived.

Ino didn't stare at Sasuke anymore. She refused to watch him leave. A part of her was happy that he was back, but another was angry. She could have moved on and fallen in love with Neji. It would have shown the Uchiha! However, it seemed too late for that now.

While Ino was wondering about talking to Sasuke, the room emptied and Neji walked away from her without a word to stand by Tsunade's desk. The ANBU had returned the furniture while everyone was leaving. Ino glanced at Neji. He was angry with her…

The blond girl realized that he must have seen her smiling when they announced that Sasuke was allowed back.

_He thinks I'm happy that Sasuke's back. I have to tell Neji that I wasn't listening when they announced it! I have to tell him that I was thinking of him, not Sasuke!_

Ino hid her desperate thoughts as she stood by Tsunade to hear her orders. She didn't want Neji to be mad at her. No matter how much they fought or how different they were, Neji had earned her respect and trust. If she wasn't honest with him, then she would lose him. She knew that she could _not_ stand to lose Neji. The blond girl depended on him too much.

"Listen you two. I'm just going to give you a simple mission because I'll need to keep you in Konoha to watch Sasuke. I need you to go to the mist to collect an item that Ibiki wants. He'll tell you the rest. You're dismissed."

_We need to get an item for Ibiki… This is not going to be a simple mission._ Ino sighed as she followed a silent Neji to the interrogation sector. Ibiki gave them more information on the item. He said it was some kind of tool. Ino rather not know more about. Neji handled the conversation with Ibiki since the blond girl was still afraid of him from her genin days.

The two walked out of Konoha before they prepared to jump from tree to tree. Ino could not stand the silence any longer.

"Are you mad at me, Neji?" She used her cutest voice and pouted a little at him. The Hyuuga refused to gaze at her. He jumped onto tree after tree and Ino had to scramble to catch up with him.

She waited a few more minutes before she talked to him again. "Neji, I know you're mad at me, but you need to let me explain."

"…" Silence was the only reward Ino got, so she started to ramble.

"I wasn't paying attention to the conversation. I didn't even know what had happened until I talked to Sakura. She had to tell me! I was just daydreaming when I heard Naruto and her cheer. NEJI, WILL YOU PLEASE ANSWER ME?!"

Neji's only answer was, "Why should I give any attention to your lies? I saw you myself."

"I was thinking of you!" Ino shouted out into the wilderness. She caught up to Neji and grabbed his arm. He refused to listen to her; he would not look at her. The blond girl didn't let go of his arm, but hugged it to her body.

She knew that he felt betrayed in a sense, but his stubbornness was angering her. Ino would not do anything against Neji, yet he was acting as if she cheated on him! What if she was happy Sasuke was back? If Neji had not forced his feelings down her throat, she wouldn't have to deal with his moodiness!

Ino was prepared to yell at the older boy, but instead she sucked in a big breath and counted to ten in her head. As much as the loud girl would love to get angry and yell, she knew it would not help anyone or anything. Neji would just close himself off from her and refuse to take any missions with her, and then years from now they would meet each other in a bar and talk about 'what could have been,' while he had a nice wife at home and she was alone!

The self-imposed drama going on in Ino's head distracted her for a short while. Neji had pulled his arm away from her and prepared to leave her there alone. She pushed his shoulder.

He turned to glare at her, ready to start another verbal fight that they constantly got into. However, when Neji was about to open his mouth Ino pushed her lips onto his.

She clumsily stumbled into him, since she took misstep when she was trying to make sure he did not walk away. This was the first kiss she had with a boy for a few years. Ino must say that kissing Neji was…perfect.

When she fell into him, Neji's arms automatically went around her waist. Ino's arms were on his chest. As they kissed, Ino felt a breeze go by and she knew that their hair was mingling together in the wind even though her eyes were not open.

The whole scene was so romantic, but the blond girl felt guilty. This had been something that she thought would happen when Sasuke came back, but her perfect romantic dream happened with Neji. She felt like such a tramp.

The kiss broke, though Neji and Ino didn't move after that. His eyes seemed calm, so Ino relaxed a little. The loud girl began to think about how emotional she had been today and then she realized something.

"Oh, shit!" She screamed as she turned to go back to Konoha.

Neji's guards went back up. He wondered if she didn't mean that kiss and it had been an accident to get him to forgive her. "What is it, Ino?"

"I have my period; I have to go back for tampons!"

The Hyuuga gave her a look as if she was an idiot and told her, "I really did not need to know that."

This time it was Neji following Ino to go back to Konoha.

**XXX**

Sasuke entered the Uchiha compound with mixed thought. He didn't know whether living here again would bring back the nightmares or if it would change because of the knowledge he now held.

The only thing the pretty boy was sure of was that Itachi had hidden a very important scroll somewhere in one of these empty houses. Sasuke was going to find it.

Karin leeched to his side, but he brushed her off by ordering her to find Suigetsu and Juugo. The two males had been searching for the scroll home by home. The red head went reluctantly away from her crush to find the boys.

Sasuke calmly walked towards his old home. It was easy to tell it apart from the others because the house was larger and older than most of the homes surrounding it. It was also the very last and farthest from them all.

No one knew what he planned and he was happy about that. Sasuke's thoughts, however, weren't on his plan or the people it involved. His mind was occupied on another task.

Uchiha Sasuke was going to win back Ino Yamanaka. He had decided that he would take her for his own and keep her by his side no matter what. The Uchiha survivor would make sure that the loud blond girl would never leave his sight again.

"My control on you will never end, Ino." Sasuke told himself. He gaze lifted to the sky and he smiled.

Karin ran up to him. "Those two idiots are digging around your parent's grave!"

Sasuke sighed. "Let them be."

The red haired girl gave him a put-off look, but complied with his order. He dismissed her again to look through the other homes, so he could be alone.

Sasuke thought about his brother's death again now that he was alone. Itachi had wanted him to stay away from Madara, but Sasuke ended up working for him instead. The thing that both his brother and Madara did not know was that Sasuke planned to kill him and the rest of the surviving Akatsuki. The pretty boy was not a pawn to Orochimaru, so he wasn't about to become a pawn to Madara, whether he was an Uchiha or not.

**I have actually had a lot of fun updating this. I am going to have more SasuIno in later chapters and when there is a good love triangle established with lots of drama, then I will put up a poll that allows you to vote on who you want Ino to be with: Neji or Sasuke?**

**Thank you for your wonderful reviews!**


	4. Chapter 4

Ino stretched out on one of the stools in Ichiraku Ramen. She was waiting for Sakura and Naruto as well as Shikamaru and Chouji. The two teams had established a close bond throughout the years, so they met frequently at Naruto's favorite place rather than fight with each other over what restaurant they should go to.

The blond girl had an inkling that they were meeting to congratulate Naruto and Sakura on getting engaged, but she wouldn't spoil it if she turned out to be wrong.

While the loud female was waiting, she felt eyes staring at her back. Ino refused to turn around to see if anyone was there. Instead, she steadily picked up a fork that was offered for those who do not know how to use chopsticks and used the end to see who was behind her.

"Sasuke," Ino stated to the dark haired boy that had placed himself right behind her. She drew in a deep breath to keep from freaking out…or worse, running away.

_Never show fear to the enemy._ The blond girl heard Neji's lectures pass through her head.

"Ino," Sasuke simply replied before he sat next to her. He sat a little _too_ close to her. "I hear you've been stuck with the Hyuuga and him only for missions, which is too bad."

Ino could not help but snort at her first love. "What? Did you want to go on a mission with me and only me?"

She did not expect the pretty boy to comment back to her sarcastic remark, but he scooted even closer to her and whispered in her ear. "It would help us get closer to one another. We haven't seen each other for some time, and it would be nice to catch up."

The blond girl felt shivers run through her body as she tried to force herself not to react to Sasuke's best seduction technique. She moved away from him with a blush on her face. Ino was not going to look in his eyes. She could not let him get away with leaving her and breaking all of his promises. No, Sasuke would not get her back that easily.

"I also hear that you two aren't dating." Sasuke continued his slightly one-sided conversation. "I can't tell you how _happy_ I am to learn that you kept your promises, even if I haven't begun to keep mine."

Ino could not take the Uchiha's sweet-talking anymore and jumped from her stool to stare down at him. "Yeah, you didn't keep your promises! And I shouldn't have kept mine; I'm not your toy, _Uchiha_!"

Sasuke let her poke him in the chest with unnecessary force. He kept the neutral features on his face that had not changed since he begun to talk to his former love. The Uchiha grabbed her arm, in an instant he was standing, and she was in his arms. "I don't expect you to forgive me, or keep your promises anymore, but I will start keeping mine. I will be your best friend and the whole world will know how much I love you. I'm going to do anything to make sure you're never going to be with Neji because it would break my heart, Ino."

Ino stared up at the handsome boy without any real words to say. She did not remember how beautiful Sasuke was, or how his eyes captured her soul and she could not breathe. She was going to forgive him… She _had_ to forgive him.

"Ino, you're here early! Oh, Sasuke! This is a pleasant surprise!" Sakura called to the two.

Suddenly Ino was standing on her own. Her right hand holding onto the countertop as she stared at her best friend in a dazed kind of state. "What?"

"You blond bimbo, I just told you that you were early!" The pink haired girl scolded. Ino shook out of her daze.

"Goddamn Uchiha's!" The loud blond girl muttered under her breath. She judged from Sakura's reaction to Sasuke and her being there that her best friend did not see anything that happened between the two. Sasuke was now at the farthest stool from her as if he had been there the whole time and had not moved or talked at all.

_Show the damn world my ass! _Ino screeched inside her head. Whatever trick that traitor used on her, she swore she would pay him back tenfold. No one messed with Ino Yamanaka!

Ino turned to smile at Sakura as the pink haired girl chattered on. "I'm glad you two are here, I wanted to tell you before the rest of the rookie nine!"

"What is it, Sakura?" Ino asked with forced politeness, while she was thinking of borrowing Ibiki's new toy to torture Sasuke until he cried.

"Naruto and I are engaged! He asked last night!"

Ino gave Sakura a teasing raised eyebrow, "Last night? Did he get you pregnant or something?"

"No, you pig!" Sakura blushed scarlet, "I'm still a virgin. I told you I was going to wait until I was married."

The blond girl smiled as she walked away from the ramen stand. "You two are so predictable! I have to go, you know, not all of us have days off to tell their friends that they're pregnant and trying to cover it up for marriage!"

Sakura screamed some obscenities at the blond girl as she strolled away. Ino laughed at her.

It was a lie about working today, Ino knew she should not have said it, but she really needed to get away from Sasuke. Who knew what he would try once they were alone again?

Ino sighed as she traveled to her secret training ground. The loud girl felt like she really needed some time to herself.

**XXX**

Karin kneeled on a tree limb watching Ino walk somewhere. The red head had been following the blond female for sometime. She hoped that knowing more about her could answer her question.

"What does Sasuke see in her?"

She fingered one of her favorite weapons, but she knew that killing the bitch would not help her get Sasuke. However, she planned something else. She was going to get rid of Ino Yamanaka. Moreover, Karin was going to make sure it worked.

**XXX**

Sasuke smirked at his rival and best friend. Naruto understood the silent congratulation. He knew it would be easy to get back on his teammates good sides, but he didn't expect it to be like taking candy from a baby. The rest of the rookie nine would be harder.

Shikamaru was already analyzing everything that he did, and Chouji was watching as well. In addition, Team 8 was following him and Tenten had early tried to use Sasuke as 'target practice' that was apparently an 'accident.'

He had shook them all off in order to stalk Ino. The pretty boy could not believe how easy it was to get the blond girl to forgive him, or almost forgive him. She was mad now and he had to stay out of her way for the moment.

Her reactions to him had given him a shiver. Sasuke was not surprised that they were as in tuned with their bodies as they had been when they were younger. Now all he had to do was make her see everything in his perspective. Then Ino would be his.

Sasuke smirked to himself as he left the ramen stand to check on the progress back at the Uchiha compound. Fate was definitely on his side. Nothing could go wrong now.

**XXX**

Madara smirked at the red headed girl kneeling before him. "What news do you bring me of Sasuke?"

"He's going to betray you, leader-sama." Karin answered. "I have a plan to keep him on our side though."

Madara seemed amused at the girl. "Please, do share."

**Sorry I have not been updating that much, though this is updated within the week. College sucks out all of my energy, so I will be trying to complete chapters within the time limit, but they will most likely be updated on either Saturday or Sunday. Thank you all for being patient with me!**


	5. Chapter 5

Ino sighed at the frosty air. "Summer's over." She kicked a rock and dragged her feet to the hospital. The blond girl had promised Sakura that they'd to a shift together so they could actually talk one-on-one. The loud girl didn't know what her best friend wanted to 'talk' about, but she knew it wasn't going to be good.

"Please, don't let this conversation be about me!"

She took up any extra time she could have without being late. Ino ran into the shop to see if her dad was doing okay on his own, she ran to Shikamaru's to wake him up, so he could leave for his mission early. Hell, the loud girl even had breakfast over at Chouji's! They wouldn't let her leave until she had TWO plates full of eggs, sausages, toast, hash browns and whatever else they could pile on the plate without breaking it.

Ino felt like a slug. However, she took up so much time that she had to run to the hospital in order to be on time. After she got there, her stomach growled. "Now I'm hungry again! This day is just going to be horrible; I know it! I should have stayed in bed."

The loud girl whined to herself all the way to the huge desk where Sakura was already waiting. When Ino saw the pink haired girl, she quit dragging her feet and put on a fierce look of annoyance, before calling to the other girl.

"Sakura, really, if you wanted to spend time together we could have just gone out to dinner or something! It's not like you have to feel like you're neglecting me just because you're getting married!"

Sakura winced at Ino's overly loud voice and replied in an even shriller one. "Well, Ino, I could have done that, but your calendar seems so busy with dating and all! Tell me, I really want to know! Who do you like more, Neji or Sasuke? Because I believe they both like you _very much_!"

_Damn that forehead! _Most of the other nurses were staring at the two girls now, their eyes gleaming with mischief now that they had two very good stories to spread around Konoha. Everyone always loved fights between Sakura and her just for the information that they spilled about each other when they were angry.

"Oh no, Sakura you have me confused with someone else!" Ino began to insult her back before another female joined the fight.

"Yeah, Sakura! Don't you remember that Ino has no love life? Besides, Neji is only partners with her because he's forced to and Sasuke doesn't even give her the time of day. Face it, _pig_, you're a loser!"

Ami walked up to the two girls with a large smirk. Sakura and Ino gave her a death glare, but the purple haired bully was too stupid to understand it.

"Why don't you come up with something more original, Ami? Sakura is the only one allowed to call me a pig. If you do it again you'll find yourself naked, in a dumpster out in Mist. Those boys would love you!"

"Unlike any of the males here," Sakura muttered to Ino.

Ami heard the pink haired girl's quiet remark and got in a fight stance. "I'd like to see you say that after I kick your asses!"

Ino and Sakura gazed at each other before they scoffed at Ami.

"You truly are stupid." Sakura announced, "_We_ are students of Tsunade. Who is your teacher?"

The purple haired bully screamed at them. "It doesn't matter! I'm better than a forehead like you could ever be anyway!"

Ino smirked at Sakura, sending her a silent signal. The pink haired girl smiled back. Suddenly, Sakura gave a very Ino-like pose and stated, "That's fabulous forehead to you!"

The girls laughed, like it was a private joke, which just pissed Ami off more. She launched herself towards Sakura and pushed the pink haired girl into the desk. The desk split in half from the force and Sakura pushed Ami back with double the force. The purple haired girl flew back into one of the walls with a very large picture that shattered.

The loud blond girl smirked at the injuries Ami had now. Glass was sticking out all over her backside. "Sakura, you go get Tsunade and Shizune. You'll do better explaining the fight then I will. I'll take care of her."

Sakura nodded towards her best friend before running to a staircase and going up the stairs to track down their sensei. Ino watched Ami struggle to stay standing.

"Looks like you hit something bad, Ami! You better give up."

Ami snarled at her, "Yeah, as if I would ever lose to you."

Ino gave the bully a sweet smile, "You did, honey. I slammed a poisonous flower down your throat, I graduated at a higher level then you, I got chunin before you, and I definitely have more power than you."

Ami ran towards Ino, as the loud blond female started a familiar jutsu. By the time the purple haired girl got within a foot of Ino, she couldn't move her own body.

"What did you do?" Ami demanded more than questioned.

"Family jutsu," Ino answered. "It's okay though. You're in good hands."

Ino moved Ami's body to walk in front of her. They headed out of the hospital as Sakura, Shizune, and Tsunade came down to the floor that they had fought on.

"Where did they go?" Shizune asked.

"Oh no! I think I know what Ino is going to do, or more likely what she's doing now."

Tsunade ordered the nurses and assistants, who were just watching the whole time, to clean up the mess before she turned to Sakura. "What's she up to?"

**XXX**

Ino sighed at Neji's angry eyes. She was stuck on paperwork duty for today, so the blond girl wasn't surprised that he found out and instantly went to her to give her another lecture.

"I want you to explain yourself to me, so I can hope to understand your logic, Ino." The handsome Hyuuga ordered.

"I'm already punished by doing all of this, can't you be nice and congratulate me?"

Neji glared at her, "Are you insane?"

Ino looked away from him. He didn't know much about her past. Neji told her about everything that happened in his past, but she never told him anything. Ino guessed that it was time to tell him why she kind of tortured Ami.

"Okay, I'm going to tell you why I did it, but you can't judge me, you just get to listen." She ordered her mission partner. Neji seated himself next to her, but not as close as Sasuke dared to go the day before.

"It started before I met Sakura…"

**XXX**

Karin winced as she heard Suigetsu tell the story about Ino and this Ami girl over again so Sasuke could hear it. _Okay, make the bimbo angry is checked off my list._

The Uchiha seemed to smile at the story. The red haired girl felt jealousy rip through her.

_She will not survive messing with my man!_

**XXX**

Sasuke tried to hold back a smirk at the story Suigetsu heard earlier. Someone should have warned Ami not to mess with Ino, but no one ever listened.

The pretty boy had heard about her punishment. Paperwork would definitely give Ino a reluctance to get in a fight in the hospital again. She hated being stuck in one place at a time.

He stared out of the window in the apartment his team was sharing. The Yamanaka wouldn't be angry at him now that she was occupied by her hatred of that pathetic bully. Sasuke would make sure that he visited her tomorrow.

After all, Ino would have a mission to go to with Neji and him soon.

**Remember for those of you who read In My Imagination, there is a poll up in my profile that I need you to vote on in order to continue the story. It will be up for another week or so before I take it down and put the one for If I Could I Would Not Love You up.**

**I have written out my goals and whatnot for this story and I have found out that I do not really know where I am going with it. I guess that this will be a long story.**

**Another reminder, check out my homepage link that is in my profile for information on any of your favorite stories and I will try to keep the spoilers from them, but they tend to sneak in. At my homepage, you can request any additional information about a story you like and I will make an entry for it.**

**That is about it! Do not forget to review!**


	6. Chapter 6

Sakura sat down on Ino's large bed. Both girls had a more serious outlook today, rather than yesterday when they were insulting each other.

"How did you hear about Neji, Sasuke and I?"

The pink haired girl avoided her best friend's inquisitive looks. "I overheard Sasuke in the ramen stand…"

Ino tilted her head. "That doesn't explain about Neji." She sat down on the bed and crossed her legs to face Sakura.

"Oh, well, when Neji and you came back in a hurry the day you two had a mission, I noticed your lip gloss on his lips."

Ino sighed as she thought about the ramen stand incident. Sakura had fooled her. Usually Ino is the best at reading hidden emotions, but the pink haired girl had truly won that round.

Sakura gave a sly smile towards her friend. "So how were Neji's lips?"

"Oh, my! Forehead, you are such a…!" Ino screamed loudly as she fell back on her bed and covered her face with a pillow in embarrassment. Sakura laughed at her.

"Ooh la la, I bet Neji's a _perfect_ kisser!" The pink haired girl continued to tease the blond female by making kissing faces and imitating a very out of character Neji.

"Stop it! Stop it!"

Sakura hopped off Ino's bed and stated, "Yes, Ino my love, I, Neji shall wait for later to sneak into your room to ravish you." She opened the window and acted as if she was jumping out of it.

Ino snorted at her, "You are horrible!"

'Well, you told me that's what friends are for! And it's not like you're any better…" Sakura seated herself back on the bed with a more serious look. "So Sasuke and you were really together when we were younger? Ino, you could have told me."

"No, I couldn't, Sakura. You would have thought it was a lie and no matter what anyone said, you would have still tried to win over Sasuke." Ino answered.

"Yeah, you're right. It's different now, though. I love Naruto. So please tell me about what happened when you guys were younger. I don't want any secrets between us."

"Alright," Ino answered, "and by the way, Neji still needs a little more practice before he's a perfect kisser."

The girls giggled at each other before Ino told Sakura about her and Sasuke.

**XXX**

Sasuke approached Tsunade's messy desk. "I have a favor to ask of you, Hokage-sama."

"Well, what is it?" Tsunade demanded more than asked. _I hope he doesn't want me to break up Sakura and Naruto for his own pleasure._

"I would like to be assigned to work with Neji and Ino on group missions and them only."

Tsunade gave him a sharp glare that would have scared someone else other than an Uchiha. "I won't let you be with Ino, Sasuke."

"I'm not asking that," Sasuke answered tactfully. "I think that in order to show my true intentions that a Yamanaka and Hyuuga could do that best. Ino could read my emotions or my mind, if she chooses, and Neji would remain suspicious of me, so he would report any wrong move of mine. It will be easier to get everyone to trust me if I was with both of them."

The fifth hokage gave the pretty boy a once over. "Then why don't we have Ino and Hinata watch you instead." She offered carefully.

"No, Hinata is too gentle for most missions that I hear Neji and Ino go on." _I want to show Neji his place firsthand. He has to be a part of our group._

"Very well, but you will be watched Sasuke."

"I understand, thank you." The Uchiha bowed to Tsunade before he left.

Shizune gazed to the female sannin, who was now looking out the window. "Do you think that was wise?"

"No, I don't. It seems Sasuke wants Ino and for him to get her he's trying to squash the competition by forcing Neji to know 'his place.'"

"Should we warn Ino?" The dark haired female stressed the question.

Tsunade gave a sigh, "No, Ino can take care of herself." She turned back to her paperwork. "I'm going to take a nap!"

**XXX**

Neji twirled a nameless flower in his hand. He was watching his team train together. The Hyuuga knew that they were worried because he wasn't the first one there and he wasn't training either. Neji couldn't help but ignore his favorite activity. He had other things on his mind.

Like Ino. She had actually told him something about her past. It was quite a big step to make for her. The blond girl had made herself vulnerable to the older boy in a way that was more intimate than he rescuing her from danger was.

Neji knew he was getting way over his head when he thought about asking his uncle to let him marry Ino after she told him one of her secrets. The thought of marriage in general was too rash and irrational for his thoughts that he had laughed when it popped into his head.

He had sounded just like Ino. A smile crept onto his face as he thought about her story.

_Ino sighed at the large academy. It was the starting day for all of the new students. The blond girl had entered the school without any problems and found her classroom straight away. There was only three other girls in the room so far._

Great, it's Ami and her little followers. _Ino sat down in the front of the classroom to wait for class to start._

"_Hey there pig. You want to hang with me?"_

"_No, I don't try to keep friends who treat people badly for their amusement." Ino answered back with true confidence that the purple haired bully would never have._

_Ami got in her face, "If you want a piece of me I will kick your butt!"_

_The purple haired girl had beat up Ino that day. The blond girl had gone along with whatever Ami wanted to do, until the day that she saw Sakura be bullied. Then Ino spoke up and pushed Ami into a tree. They had fought with each other and that day Ino had won instead of Ami._

_No one was going to bully any more girls while Ino was at the academy. She had made sure of it. Therefore Ami and Ino were destined to be enemies, not friends._

"Neji, come here and I will show you a new move that I know you'll love!" Gai announced to his quiet pupil. Neji raised himself off the ground and let go of the yellow and blue flower to watch it float away in the wind.

"Very well, Gai-sensei."

**XXX**

Sasuke smirked to himself. He didn't care that Tsunade knew of his plan, after all she gave in and let him have his way anyway.

A strong gust of wind traveled through the shopping district and Sasuke grabbed a flower that he didn't know the name to out of the air. It was a pale yellow with streaks of blue throughout the petals. It reminded him of Ino.

"Hn," The Uchiha survivor crushed the flower as he continued to the Yamanaka Flower Shop. Some of his fan girls were kind enough to tell him when Ino should be working at her families shop without expecting anything back. They were all fools.

As Sasuke entered the flower shop, he hid his smile. Neji and Ino would find out tomorrow about the mission they would be going on _together_.

"Welcome to the Yamanaka Flower Shop! How may I help you today? SASUKE!? What are you doing here?"

The bell jingled the door to a close.

**XXX**

Neji stopped training at the same time as everyone else. He watched Tenten approach him, "Are you feeling alright, Neji? You never begin training after we've already started and you certainly never quit training at the same time as us. You've been acting really weird today."

The brown haired girl placed her hand on his forehead. "No temperature. Is there something wrong that you haven't told us about?"

"No, but I do admit I am a little distracted. I'm going to leave early." Neji departed from his group. He couldn't stand Tenten's worried looks because if she knew about his growing crush on Ino, then she would have done something unpredictable. The Hyuuga jumped his way to the Yamanaka Flower Shop. Neji had been getting agitated since he had to train with his team instead of seeing Ino today.

Neji felt that something was off, but he couldn't explain it. All the quiet boy did know was that he wanted to be with the loud blond female right now. It was as if something bad was going to happen if he wasn't around to protect her.

He never liked those gut feelings about Ino. They were always right.

**I completed most of this yesterday, but I had to write the rest of it today, so all of you are lucky!! It's an early update!**

**Keep reviewing because it motivates me to write more sooner. Also, the more that I write the more about the plot I figure out. The muses will not leave me alone!**


	7. Chapter 7

Ino watched Sasuke wearily as he walked closer to her

Ino watched Sasuke wearily as he walked closer to her. Before the pretty boy could say or do anything the bells jingled again to notify the two of another person coming into the store. The two looked towards the entrance and Ino sighed happily. "Neji, come in!"

_Thank goodness, he always comes when I need him._ Ino smiled brightly now that she knew she was safe for the moment.

The loud blond girl watched in silence as the two males gave each other a once over. Her smile lost its brightness when she realized that they would start a fight in her beloved flower shop. Ino edged her way in between Neji and Sasuke before they got too close to each other.

"You guys are going to scare off my customers! Get out of here!" She pinched the closest ear she could get a hold of and threw them out of the store, laughing at their wide-eyed expressions.

Ino went back to the counter. She took out one of her favorite glamour magazines and started to read it, just so it would be easier to ignore the boys.

The two gazed briefly at Ino reading at the counter before they turned to glare at each other. Their eyes never left the other person as both boys got up off the ground. Sasuke suddenly smirked at Neji and Neji got into a fight stance.

"Don't worry, Hyuuga. I'm not going to fight you right now. I can wait."

"Why are you suddenly so patient, Uchiha?"

Sasuke turned his back on Neji to travel back to the Uchiha compound, "Because my plans will never fail."

The Hyuuga boy watched the Uchiha leave. He turned to Ino, who had a worried look on her face. Neji jumped on the nearest roof and went back to the training grounds. _I have to be ready for whatever he is planning. I'm not going to stop training to sit around like a lovesick fool anymore._

Neji spotted Lee running laps around Konoha and stopped him. "Lee, let's spar."

"Of course I will spar with you, Neji! My youthful rival I am glad you are feeling better!"

The Hyuuga protégé didn't say anything more as his teammate lunged towards him.

**XXX**

Ino bit her lip as she was watching Sasuke and Neji talk. The Uchiha survivor was unusually calm and he seemed happy about something. He didn't even fight Neji, which worried Ino to no end. Sasuke always fought with other people. He never said no to a challenge.

The blond girl watched as the pretty boy walked away. _It can't be that easy… _Neji glared at her shortly before he left as well. _Did they say something about me?_

Ino waited until closing time to leave. She didn't have one single customer today, but she didn't want to get yelled at by her father just in case there was one. It was nearly sunset, Ino walked home alone.

"What are you doing out here alone, Ino-pig? Doesn't Shikamaru usually walk you home?" Sakura teased.

"Forehead," Ino started, "I need to spar with you."

"Do you want to do it right now?"

Ino turned to her best friend and nodded, "Yeah, I feel like something bad is going to happen soon, so I need to test my skill against you."

Sakura nodded towards the blond female and they both got into a fighting stance. Both screamed at each other, "I WON'T LOSE TO YOU!" They ran to each other and matched each other hit for hit.

"We're still equal…" Sakura whined as they walked home together.

"How annoying is that?" Ino added.

Both girls laughed at each other. They heard a noise and turned towards it. From above they could see Naruto and Sasuke fighting on one of the buildings.

Sakura sighed. "I'm going to stay here. I'll have to heal up Naruto when he's done. Do you want to stay with me?"

Ino stared up at the boys in a daze before she snapped out of it and turned to the pink haired girl. "Uh…no, that's okay… I think I better get home."

"Whatever, pig!"

The loud blond girl ran the rest of the way home. _I'm never going to be as powerful as the boys. Even Naruto has gotten incredibly stronger. I should probably ask Neji if he would train me more. I don't want to get left behind._

**XXX**

"Yamanaka Ino. Lady Tsunade requests your presence. You have a mission."

Ino nodded sleepily at the ANBU member who had invaded her room through her window. She got out of bed and dressed as soon as he left.

"I wonder what it is this time…" The blond female gazed towards the sky. "This seems so strange…usually Neji tells me when we have a mission…"

She tumbled out of her bedroom window and yawned. "Did they have to come this early?!"

**XXX**

"Hyuuga Neji. Lady Tsunade requests your presence. You have a mission." The ANBU captain departed quickly as Neji opened his eyes. He had been meditating in one of the Hyuuga training grounds.

"That is strange. ANBU's don't usually tell shinobi when they have missions, unless…"

Neji left his thoughts behind as he walked into the house to shower and get ready for the mission. The Hyuuga protégé continued to think about the ANBU coming to his home. He realized that he did not have to go get Ino, but that worried him more.

"Someone is planning something. This is not going to be good."

**XXX**

Sasuke was already waiting for the ANBU. "Uchiha Sasuke. Lady Tsunade requests your presence. You have a mission."

He nodded. The ANBU was dismissed and he quickly disappeared. Sasuke gazed at the weapons his team had found around the Uchiha compound and chose what he thought he needed.

The Uchiha traitor smirked to himself as he left Juugo, Karin, and Suigetsu on their own. Neji and Ino had no clue as to what was going on. That was the exact way he wanted it.

Sasuke quickly left his old home. Everything was coming together perfectly.

**XXX**

Neji spotted Ino waiting outside of Tsunade's room. He approached the girl without her realizing it. "So, you got the strange message from the ANBU as well."

Ino jumped and almost fell over before she regained her balance. "Yeah, so what?"

The Hyuuga glared at her for her rude comment. The blond girl gave him a sheepish look.

"Sorry. Just got up."

"It's fine." Neji watched her roll her eyes before he started to talk again. "Do you have any idea of what's going on?"

"No," Ino answered, "but I wish I did. I do agree that it was weird that the ANBU came right into my room to wake me up. He wouldn't let me eat or tell my dad. He only left when I got out my clothes to get dressed." Her stomach growled and she blushed bright red.

Neji handed her a food bar without thinking about it. He was all too used to Ino's empty mindedness, but that was another thing. She had actually been thinking about what she needed to do before leaving rather than leaving in a hurry… This was all too strange for his tastes.

"Thanks."

"I'm sure that your father will figure out that you were called out on a mission."

Ino shook her head. "I don't think so. Last time that happened he hunted down every one of the males in the rookie nine to make sure I hadn't run off with one of them. It was a big mess."

Neji and Ino spotted Sasuke coming towards him. They looked towards each other before staring at the pretty boy again.

"I see you haven't been informed that we're going on a mission together." Sasuke smirked. The ANBU poofed out of nowhere to inform them that they were allowed to see Tsunade now that their group was complete.

They entered Tsunade's office. Neji was on Ino's right and Sasuke on her left. They stood before the fifth Hokage waiting for their orders. Shikamaru was leaving the room as they entered. He offered a greeting to his old teammate as he walked out.

"Don't worry, Ino. I'll tell your dad that you had a mission to go on."

Ino looked back at him. She was completely worried now. If Shikamaru knew what her mission was, then that must mean that it had to do with the rest of the Akatsuki members.

This was bad.

**The poll is up for you to vote on so go to my profile to vote for Neji or Sasuke. For those of you who have not decided yet, don't worry. You have plenty of time to wait before I end this story and I will warn you when it's nearly over. Keep your votes until you're absolutely sure of who you want it to be. If you know now then vote!!**

**It looks like Neji is winning the poll right now!**


	8. Chapter 8

Thank you for all of your reviews so far

**Thank you for all of your reviews so far.**

Tsunade stared each one of them down. Ino was a ball of nerves, where as Neji and Sasuke were too calm. "Don't worry, Ino. I'm sending you three to watch Kabuto, not kill the Akatsuki."

Neji spoke up, "Wouldn't it be Orochimaru, since Kabuto brought the snake sannin into himself?"

"No," Sasuke answered, which intensified the display of power in the room. "Kabuto is dealing quite well with making sure that Orochimaru doesn't take him over."

Ino looked at each of the boys several times. She suddenly felt like she was going to puke. Both males gazed at her briefly as if they knew what she was thinking, but turned to glare at each other again.

"Wait!" Ino said a little too loudly, "Why are we spying on him and not killing him then?"

"Yes. Why?" Neji added.

"…" Sasuke too had directed his attention back at the fifth Hokage.

Tsunade hid her mouth from them by folding her hands in front of her face. She was smiling, but if they knew, they would just get angry with her. _Ino was always one to point out things that others would miss. _"He is no threat to us at the moment, but if he becomes one he will be killed."

"Why is Shikamaru working on this then? He usually only works on the Akatsuki cases…" Ino continued.

"If Orochimaru overcomes Kabuto's will, then we will have another big threat on our hands. Shikamaru is one of the best strategists we have and it's best not to waste it by letting him be lazy." Ino smirked at the Hokage.

"Do you think it is possible that Orochimaru will take over Kabuto if he has fought it this far?" Neji asked. Curiosity shown in Sasuke's eyes, he wanted to know the answer as well.

"Anything is possible when it comes to Orochimaru. You have a week until you leave for the mission. The rest of the details will be given on the day that you are supposed to leave. Until then, I suggest you enjoy your time off." _If you happen to not come back, then at least the three of you would have had some time to spend with everyone._

Neither Neji, Sasuke, nor Ino were confused at Tsunade's silent approach to them. She had just implied that they spend their time with their loved ones and perhaps say goodbye to them…Just in case.

As Ino was walking to her families flower shop, she realized that this mission was just as dangerous as going after the remaining Akatsuki. She bit her lower lip as she made a mental list of who she needed to spend time with this week.

Sasuke quickly strolled to her side. "Let's go to Ichiraku together."

"What is the exact point to that, Sasuke?" Ino began to get defensive. He gave her a small smile that made her feel like prey as he put his arm around her shoulders.

"I told you that I am going to show everyone my feelings for you. I want to start with my team." His arm forced her by him and the loud blond female gave him an annoyed look.

"Is that really why you are doing this, Sasuke?"

"You should know me better Ino. I do nothing I don't mean." He lied.

Ino blushed and let her gaze fall to the ground. She let Sasuke lead her to the Ramen Stand, where she saw Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi's forms. Ino had always dreamed of the day that Sasuke would show her around town. Now she felt like his puppet. Still Ino let Sasuke hold her hand and walk her towards Team 7. They were all looking towards them, which caused Ino to turn even redder.

The loud blond female stayed quiet and kept her free arm curled into her chest as she had done so many times in their genin days. Ino suddenly realized that she wasn't behaving like herself, but more like she had before Sasuke left.

Ino stopped, which caused Sasuke to yank her hand. She didn't budge and so he turned to gaze at her with an annoyed look.

"I'm giving you what you wanted, aren't I? Why are you making this so difficult?"

She raised her head to glare at him. Taking back her hand she replied, "It is what I wanted for the longest time. Before you left and when you came back, but the day you came back Neji made me see that I love him as well. After that, I realized that I don't need to hang on to your broken promises anymore. I can't stop loving you, Sasuke, but if you want me you'll have to fight fair and be honest. I'm not your toy and I refuse to be treated like one from now on. I'm your equal."

Ino could no longer read what was in the pretty boys gaze, he didn't say anything, but turned back to the Ramen Stand and walked away. She suspected that she was just supposed to follow him blindly as before, and as much as she wanted to, she didn't. Sasuke must have realized this as well because he stopped a few feet away.

"I would appreciate it if you let me fix my broken promises. This is a start, believe me."

Ino suddenly felt torn. It was as if she had two people inside of her. One telling her what an idiot she was for being mean to Sasuke and the other who just simply wanted to walk away and go find Neji. The loud female wasn't stupid. She knew that if she was with Sasuke he would never see her as an equal, but with Neji, she knew he was capable with treating her as his equal. The problem was that she loved them both and couldn't possibly choose between them because no matter if Sasuke was an ass or not, he still was her first love.

"I…will let you fix them, but I want to find Neji right now. I made him promise to train me…"

Sasuke turned back towards her. "I can train you."

Ino looked away from him. "Maybe…I don't know if I can trust you, yet."

She turned to leave, but Sasuke stopped her again. "How about if we get everyone together and have a group dinner tonight."

Ino thought about it. The offer was extremely generous and rare for Sasuke. "Everyone is going to come?"

"Gaara and his siblings, the rookie nine, and Neji's team as well."

"Alright, but where will it be?" Ino turned back to him. Her curiosity got the best of her. She wanted to know how Sasuke was going about this.

"It will be at the barbeque place your team always goes to. I'll pay for it all and get everyone together."

"Are you feeling well?" Ino rushed to him to feel his head. "None of this is like you at all!"

"If it is what I have to do to prove to you my feelings are real, then I will do it." Sasuke took her hand and kissed it. All of Ino's body heated up.

"T-thank you…?" Ino turned and walked away from the Uchiha before she jumped on him. Telling him she had to train with Neji was a better lie than she thought she could come up with, but then she realized that she needed to tell her father about the mission and then actually hunt Neji down to train with him.

There was no way she could survive if the Kabuto-Orochimaru thing decided he wanted her dead. No, no way at all.

**VOTE IN THE POLL! Any reviews telling me what person you're voting for won't get you anywhere. I'm only counting the votes on the poll in my PROFILE. **

**Thank you again for all of your support, every time I update a chapter I'm figuring out what I'm going to do with this fic more and more. It won't be completed soon, but I know where I'm going with it. And there also might be a special treat at the end.**

**Review please!**


	9. Chapter 9

The familiar bell rang gently as Ino entered her beloved shop. Her father was working the counter. She waited while Inoshi handled an elderly woman, who was buying flowers for a departed loved one. As the bell signaled that the woman left and it was only her father and her Ino approached the tall man.

"Hey, dad…" Ino started when Inoshi gave her a worried look.

"It's okay, I heard Ino. Are you sure you should go with them?"

Ino nodded. "I need to prove myself. I'm not going to let anything happen to Konoha!"

He smiled warmly at his daughter before he embraced the young girl. "I know. It's always harder for females to earn respect than males. You'll manage to show 'em."

The loud girl's eyes welled up with tears, but she refused to cry. "Thanks dad. We have a week before we leave, so I'll be sure to help you plant next season's flowers before I go, okay?"

"It can wait until you come back. We have plenty of time."

Ino nodded. She smiled brightly at her father. She was going to come back. She wouldn't die. She couldn't…

"I'm going to go track down Neji to train and there's a big group dinner, so I'll stop back home really quick before being off again today. You won't get to see much of me."

Inoshi turned his back on her to go back behind the counter. "Everything will be fine, do what you need to Ino. You know I'll always be here."

"Yeah dad," Ino bounced back out the door. "I love you!"

She gazed around the market before jumping on the rooftops and running towards Neji's normal training grounds.

Ino spotted Neji training with his team. She landed close to Tenten, who was watching Lee and her other male teammate spar.

"What brings you here, Ino?" Tenten turned her attention to the blond female.

She fidgeted a little before she answered the older girl. "I was hoping that Neji would train me one-on-one until we leave."

Tenten turned back to watch the fight. "Yeah, for that mission with Kabuto, right? Neji told us about it, though it's strange why Sasuke would take an interest in going with you guys. Doesn't he like to work alone?"

"Yeah, he does."

"Hm…" Tenten seemed to be lost in her own imagination, so Ino called out to the boys.

"Neji! I need you to train me!"

The two males quit sparring and turned to the blond female. They suddenly appeared before her without Ino's noticing. Tenten smirked at the younger girl for being so clueless.

"Wow that was fast!"

Lee smiled widely at her, "Speed is basic training and it's very easy Ino! All you need to do is run around Konoha five hundred times with weights on!"

"No, thank you?" Ino said in a confused manner. "I think I'll be fine without…that." _Does he want to kill me?_

"I'll train with you Ino." Neji finally answered her question. "Do you want to start now?"

Ino nodded at him, "I want to be prepared for our mission."

"We'll see you two later tonight at the group dinner!" Tenten called.

Lee waved at them, "Yes, I cannot wait to see everyone together again!"

The loud blond female shook her head. _He already told everyone? He must have really meant what he said…_

Neji gazed down at Ino with an unreadable look. "What?"

"Nothing, I just want to know what you did."

"What do you mean by 'what you did' Neji?" Ino glared at him. He looked away from her and closed his eyes.

"It's nothing."

Ino huffed at her partner's cold manner as they entered Neji's private training ground. He had found it when he was younger and trying to secretly learn jutsus that the main house didn't want him to learn because he was a branch member.

The two faced each other and moved to a fighting stance. Neji eyed Ino, thinking over her weaknesses and strengths. "We'll start with close combat and move from there."

"Alright," Ino replied as Neji launched himself at her.

**XXX**

Neji carried Ino up to the apartment above the flower shop. "Are you sure you don't want to go to Sakura's?"

"I'll be fine, plus Sakura will already be at the party."

Inoshi opened the door with a unreadable look in his eyes. He didn't exchange words with the Hyuuga as he took his daughter into his arms and slammed the door in the younger males face.

"Dad, that was rude! Open up the door and apologize!" Ino ordered.

"I will once I get you into the shower."

Inoshi placed Ino on the sink where she could move herself around. She opened the door to hear her father apologize to Neji and ask if he wanted to come in. The muffled reply couldn't be deciphered, so Ino closed the door and wobbled to the shower. She turned it on and took off her clothes to check out her wounds.

There was a nasty bruise on her ankle, but all of her other wounds didn't bother her at all. She tried to heal it a little bit before she entered the shower. Ino hissed in pain.

After the blond female got out of the shower, she headed to her room where she put on a simple violet dress. Neji hadn't been anywhere in sight. Ino guessed that he must have headed home.

Ino left her hair down and limped back out into the living room to leave for the party. She heard a knock from a nearby window and turned to see who was there. It was Sasuke. She unlocked the window for him.

"Did Neji hurt you?" The Uchiha asked as soon as he entered the apartment.

"No, I actually did this to myself." She had been trying to get the best of Neji, but ended up falling into a covered hole that neither one of them had known about.

"You've always been a klutz." Sasuke nodded. "Can you walk?"

"I can limp…" Ino reluctantly admitted.

The pretty boy sighed, "I'll carry you there."

Sasuke picked her up as Neji had done earlier. He maneuvered her outside easily from the window. The two stayed silent until they were almost to the restaurant. "I want to ask you something."

"What is it, Sasuke?" Ino gazed up at his unemotional face.

"Let me have tomorrow to show you I can keep my promises."

Ino turned away from him, "It'll take more than a day…"

"I know," He replied. "I have to start somewhere and I'd like to get it over with earlier rather than later."

Ino bit back a sarcastic remark about his word choice. He was trying, so she should try too. "Alright."

"Thank you." Sasuke dropped down in front of the restaurant. "Can you walk inside?"

"I can take care of myself." Ino took a step before she almost fell. She regained her balance and entered the restaurant with Sasuke following her. Everyone was talking and laughing together. It seemed that Ino was the last one there, except for Neji.

"Tenten, do you know where Neji is?" Ino asked the older girl.

"Yeah, he'll be here in a second. He went to go get our sensei's." Tenten smiled at her.

Ino suddenly felt sick. This was going to be a very unpredictable night.

**I am sorry for not updating for two weeks, but I had to have my internet shut off, so now I will be updating from a library. You will have 3 updates this week, so I can catch up and if I feel like it I'll continue updating twice a week instead of once. Since I am in college I have longer breaks and there will be a time period where I'm not able to get to any computers with internet. I hope you will continue to be patient with me, because I will keep writing during the breaks and when I get the chance, you will have a huge stream of updates to read. Thank you!**


	10. Chapter 10

_**I tried to get this to you earlier, but the comp I was using said that my floppy disk wasn't formatted when it is. I'll try to update three times this week. Today, Tuesday, and Thursday or Friday. Be patient with me!**_

_SasuIno lovers, this is for you!_

Ino gave a small smile when Neji entered with Kakashi, Gai, Asuma, and Kurenai. She had been worried that Sasuke had snuffed him out of the way somehow and that the older boy was hurt somewhere. The blond female relaxed.

Everyone was seated at a big table that was just a bunch of smaller tables put together. Sasuke sat at one end with Naruto on his left and Ino on his right. Sakura was sitting by Naruto and Hinata sat on her other side. Kiba sat next to Hinata, while Shino was next to him. Kakashi, Gai, Kurenai, and Asuma crowded at the end of the left side of the table. By Ino is where Neji seated himself since Tenten had saved him a place. Lee was next to Tenten, Gaara was next to Lee, then Kankurou and Temari, and at the other end of the table sat Shikamaru and Chouji. The two males of team ten wanted to be across from their sensei.

Almost immediately, most of the males started arguing with each other. Gai demanded a battle from his infamous rival, Kakashi. Kiba and Naruto threw insults at each other. Kankurou commented on how everyone was a moron and Temari hit her younger brother on the head for being rude. Lee proclaimed that Neji and he should have a glorious eating contest to celebrate them being rivals, while Tenten lectured them. Asuma and Kurenai flirted with each other. Sakura and Ino began calling each other names. Hinata began stuttering towards Naruto. Chouji just ate and Shikamaru rested his head on the table. Shino and Gaara watched everyone. Sasuke snorted at everyone's behavior.

"I'm telling you that I can win a fight against anyone in this room!" Naruto pointed at Kiba.

Kiba sneered at him, "I highly doubt that!"

"Pl-please you two stop it!" The shy girl squealed.

"Hinata's right! Knock it off you two!" Sakura ordered.

Ino gave a quick laugh, "as if you're one to order everyone around forehead!"

"You want to go pig!?"

Everyone stopped talking as the group heard a loud snore from Shikamaru. Suddenly Sakura started laughing. "Your teammate is so lazy! He really doesn't do anything but sleep does he?"

"Hey," Ino felt that her best friend insulted her teammate and wanted an apology. "He's helped all of us out more than you have."

"Excuse you?" The pink haired girl glared at her rival.

"You heard me."

Sakura smiled, "fine then hear this!" She threw her food at the blond haired girl. Ino ducked and threw her own plate back at the other girl. A large food fight began. When everyone got calmed down the large group was kicked out of the restaurant.

Ino laughed as she limped out of the place. Sakura was right beside her. "Ino, you should have told me that you were hurt! How come you haven't healed it all the way?"

"I haven't been able to…" The blond female reluctantly admitted. "I kind of used up most of my chakra fighting Neji and then did this to myself."

Sakura sighed. "You shouldn't be so careless Ino! I know you know better than that."

As the pink haired girl leaned down to heal Ino's wounds the rest of the way Ino snorted. "Of course I know better. Who do you think taught you?"

"Oh please. We were eight."

"So?" Ino smirked. "I'm still better than you."

"There you two are!" Naruto called out. Sakura and Ino turned to see Sasuke walking with him.

"It's not our fault that we got separated! Not one of us knew that the big guy on Ino's team would chase us down for getting kicked out!" Sakura called back, and then turned back to glare at Ino.

Ino opted to act innocent and clueless, "What?"

Sakura rolled her eyes as the boys approached. The four walked out of the alley where the two girls had been hiding. They faced each other as they said their goodbyes.

"Come on, Naruto. You're walking me home." Sakura ordered.

Naruto gave his fiancé a confused look, "But what about Sasuke and Ino?"

She hit him on the head. "You idiot, let's go!" She grabbed his collar and pulled him behind her with Tsunade's legendary strength.

The two watched their friends leave before Sasuke turned to Ino. "I didn't plan for that to happen."

"I know. It was mainly my fault, but it was so much fun it's worth having Chouji angry at me for getting kicked out of his favorite restaurant." Ino laughed.

Sasuke smirked as he offered his arm to the loud blond female. "Tomorrow, early morning is when I'll pick you up."

"Alright…"

He watched Ino blush. An evil look appeared in the pretty boys eyes before it suddenly disappeared. He led Ino away from her home.

"Where are we going Sasuke?"

"You should remember." Sasuke let her arm go. He leaned against one of the many trees surrounding a large meadow as Ino walked around. Fireflies glowed happily throughout the air. They lit up the entire meadow as if it were a magical place far away from the real world of ninjas and killing.

Ino smiled. "We used to come here so much." She went to one of the higher elevated areas to get a closer look at a small waterfall that housed little goldfish. "This is a part of the Uchiha properties, right?"

"Yes." Sasuke answered.

"Are there other beautiful places here?"

"I don't really know." The Uchiha survivor answered honestly. Ino nodded at the little pool of fish.

"Maybe one of these days we should take a tour of all of your property."

Sasuke smirked at her back as she wandered around a little more. "That's fine."

Ino didn't want to break the silence between Sasuke and her. It was petty of her, but she just wanted to think of them as they used to be. Just for tonight. Though the peace couldn't last for long before Sasuke said something that upset her.

"I see Sakura healed you." He started.

"Yes."

"You shouldn't have let her see any weakness."

Ino turned to glare at him. "She's my best friend."

"She'll just drop you again."

"No, she won't!" Tears sprang from Ino's eyes. "We didn't stay the same just because you left, Sasuke. Don't you understand that Sakura has grown up and she's over you!? She's with Naruto now!"

The blond female turned away from Sasuke's unemotional face before she realized something. "You want us to fight over you, don't you?" Ino turned back to him. "It was never about how you feel about us! It's just about who's the strongest…"

"That couldn't be true, Ino." Sasuke stated. "She's obviously stronger than you and I'm not going after her. I'm trying to…"

"You're trying to manipulate me."

"I was going to say that I was trying to make things right between us, so things can be what they used to. However, if you want to think that you can."

Ino scoffed at him before leaping onto a tree to leave. Sasuke called after her.

"You'll still let me…"

"Take me around tomorrow? Of course, Sasuke. As long as that's all you do to bother me this week. I'm so sick of being your toy!"

Ino ran with all of her speed back to her room. She knew that Sasuke was too proud to come after her, but she desperately wanted him too. She threw herself on her bed to sob herself to sleep.

She wasn't mad at him at all. She was mad at herself because she thought the same thing for the longest time and the thought never died.

Ino wanted to be the best. She wanted Sakura to stay in her shadow forever. While the pink haired girl continually praised the blond female Ino would win over Sasuke and he would be truly hers and hers only. In mind, spirit, and body they would be together forever.

The only way Sasuke could truly accept Ino as his was if she showed the same competitive spirit that he did. She would have to beat down all the girls each time just as he did.

Ino cried because she knew that she'd never be strong enough to win against any of the others. That's why she had begun to like Neji so much. She didn't have to strive to be strong for him. All Ino had to do was challenge his minds limits, not his bodies.

The Yamanaka sighed as she waited for morning to come. She wondered what more would happen with her being around Sasuke. Could he really have a different side to him that he had never felt like he needed to show her?

** Remember to review after you're done reading!**

**I've gotten so far on this and the story has gone beyond my own imagination to create itself. This weekend I'm going to try to plan the rest of it out and estimate how far I have to go. If I know how many more chapters I have to do, it would be easier for me to update. For now, I'm going to put up a spoiler of sorts at my homepage for those of you who want to read it. Remember that I have been trying to put up more on my livejournal for you to read and there will be extras and whatnot up there before they are put up on fanfiction. Thank you repeatedly for all the support and reviews I have received. I don't think I would have gotten this far without all of you.**


	11. Chapter 11

Ino yawned as she rubbed her eyes. Her alarm clock rang beside her. It was two hours before Sasuke was supposed to come, so she lay back down to go back to sleep.

Her alarm clock rang again. It was only five minutes later than when she turned it off. "I didn't put it on sleep…Evil alarm clock."

The blond female chucked the loud thing out the open window before she pulled herself off the bed and went to the bathroom to shower. She ran into one of the walls on the way there. Her father glanced at her with a smile.

"Miscalculated those steps, huh?"

"Evil feet," Ino replied. She was never and never will be a morning person.

"I'll make you coffee and breakfast." Inoshi laughed as he finished cleaning his weapons.

Ino fell asleep in the shower, so when she woke up the poor girl had to shampoo her hair and soap up with ice-cold water. She shivered as she pulled a big fluffy towel around her. Ino returned to her room to pull on some clothes. She chose comfortable pants and a tank top. The smell of bacon was strong throughout her room. Ino's stomach growled.

"Soooo hungryyyy…" Ino whined as she bounced out of her room in time for breakfast. Her plate was filled with bacon, eggs, toast, and hash browns. She briefly looked up at her father with a disapproving gaze. "This stuff will give me zits, dad!"

"Fine, then you can do without."

"NO!" Ino hovered over her plate so her father couldn't take it away. Her stomach growled loudly again. "I'll eat it."

She dug into the food as if she had never eaten in her life. That was when Ino realized that she had never had dinner last night. The coffee warmed her up and energized her almost immediately. By the end of breakfast, Ino was bouncing around as she washed the dishes and telling her father about being kicked out of her team's restaurant.

"Are you kicked out for good or just for last night?" Inoshi asked.

"I don't know…" Ino tilted her head. "I suppose Chouji and Shikamaru will head there later today. I can ask them later."

"Alright, I need to go. I'm in the interrogation sector this week if you need me."

Ino smiled at her father as he left. "Bye dad! I love you!"

**XXX**

Karin rolled her eyes at how easy it was to make everyone believe lies about Ino Yamanaka. The red head didn't even have to try to spread things around herself. She only needed to tell a few innocent bystanders that the evil witch stole her boyfriend and know it was all over Konoha that Ino was a slut!

She flipped her hair as she saw Sasuke walk around the shopping district. Karin was just about to call out to him, but stopped when she saw him waiting in front of the Yamanaka Flower Shop.

"What does he think he's doing?"

Karin noticed Ino skip out of her families shop and lock it up behind her. The two faced each other for a few minutes and the red head wished she could read their lips. Finally, Sasuke offered the blond female his arm and she took it and they strolled together towards Ichiraku Ramen.

As she clenched her teeth, Karin realized that it might take more than spreading a few rumors. She calmed herself when she remembered that Sasuke hadn't heard any of the stories going around, but he would…soon.

**XXX**

Sasuke walked towards Ino's flower shop. He didn't bother going up to the second floor. The pretty boy just knocked on the windowed door and waited. A few moments later Ino skipped down the stairs and out of the shop. "You're very early. I have to lock up before we go because the worker isn't here yet."

As the blond female turned to lock the door Sasuke asked, "A worker? Do you mean someone runs the flower shop when you're gone?"

"Yeah, we finally had to do that after I started getting missions outside of Konoha. It's a good friend of dad's that he can trust. I think he has a little crush on her, but of course he'd never tell me the truth."

"Ino, you're rambling." Sasuke stated. He relaxed now that he knew that Ino wasn't still upset about something he said last night. The Uchiha knew his plans for today would work now that the loud girl was in a good mood.

Ino turned to him. "Where are we going today?"

"First, we're going to Ichiraku…My old team is there." Sasuke started. "Then we'll see about seeing your team."

"It's best to start with who we're closest with, huh?" Ino asked.

"Yes." Sasuke gave a simple reply, because if he had told anymore he might have angered Ino. Angering Ino wasn't on his list today.

He offered the blond female his arm. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yep!"

She took his arm and he led her away from Karin, who he had sensed as soon as he entered the business district. _What is she up to?_

Ino chattered endlessly about how much fun last night was and that she hoped that Chouji wasn't going to be kicked out for good because he would be angry at her for it. Sasuke just walked towards Team Seven's favorite hang out. No one could tell if he was listening or not.

When the ramen stand was in sight Ino quit speaking. She had noticed that people were staring at her. A few of the stares were disapproving, but most of the men had a suggestive look on their faces that made Ino uncomfortable. She turned to Sasuke.

"Do you realize everyone is staring at me?"

"Yes," Sasuke answered. "I caught little bits of conversation before they stopped to stare. There's a rumor going on about you."

"What is it?" Ino asked.

"It's something ridiculous as always. These people have no lives of their own, it's disgusting. They think we're sleeping together and that you're with half the males in Konoha."

"Oh my," Ino gasped. "That's horrible! I would never do anything like that! How dare people spread lies like that!"

"It doesn't matter Ino. The people who know you will know it's a lie." Sasuke soothed her.

"No, that's not good enough Sasuke! I don't want a bad reputation of sleeping around! I've worked hard for everything I've done, why do they have to?" Ino felt tears slip down her face.

"Other people's thoughts of you shouldn't matter Ino. Shouldn't you know better than that?" Sasuke snorted at her with annoyance.

The loud girl sighed, "I know…It's just…"

"Not everyone is going to like you, Ino. Get used to it." The Uchiha survivor knew he was being rude to her and that he was on a thin line that could break if Ino got angry. She didn't.

"You're right. I should know better. They aren't the ones that matter when I have friends that know that I'm not like that. Thank you, Sasuke. I don't know what I'd do without you." Ino blushed and looked away from him when she realized what she had said. The words had come out of nowhere and she wished she could take it back.

Sasuke smirked at her, even though her eyes were on the ground. He loved it when plans went perfectly.

They entered the small ramen stand to spot Sakura and Naruto. They smiled as the other couple sat down. Butterflies filled Ino's stomach. She still had no clue about how this was going to go.

**I can't believe I didn't put this off over and over. I actually sat down and typed it all out. I'm very proud of myself because I didn't procrastinate. You should be happy and review now since I did this for all of you!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry I've been on such a delay for these past couple of months, but I should be caught up in about three weeks since you guys now have 15 updates of If I Could I Would Not Love You. There will be one chapter a week until I catch up and then I'll be doing the updates once a week again. Remember that when I'm done with the updates that this fic will be on chapter 26! Yay! Thank you for always remaining patient with me and for happily feeding me with your reviews.**

Ino sighed at Sakura's overwhelming cheerfulness and Naruto's happy clueless face. She sat down by her best friend and watched as Sasuke sat down beside her.

Naruto spoke up first. "Hey Ino, what are you doing here? I thought you hated ramen…"

The loud-mouthed female gave him a smirk. "No, I don't hate ramen. I just hate watching you eat ramen as Chouji does when it comes to barbeque. Did it ever occur to you that you aren't going to die of starvation? You can slow down when you eat and learn some table manners."

Ino smirked as the blond boy yelled at her and Sakura glared at her. That was how she liked it. Her friends were annoyed with her, so she was amused at them. She flipped a piece of her hair back and called Sakura a name as she ordered her food. Ino got into a insult throwing fight with her pink haired friend before the ramen was done and by the time they all were eating their orders the three were laughing… Four if they wanted to count Sasuke's infamous smirk.

"So…are you two a couple now?" Sakura teased lightly and laughed when Naruto spit out his ramen all over the owners and cooks of the ramen shop.

"WHAT!? Ino's dating teme?!" The blond boy moved his chair around to glare at Sasuke above the girls' heads. He opened his mouth to say something, but Sakura shoved some of her noodles into his mouth.

"Here you go Naruto. Try some of mine!" The pink haired girl continued to feed her boyfriend.

After a few minutes of Sakura trying to keep Naruto quiet Sasuke finally spoke up.

"No, we're friends."

Naruto spit out more noodles, "What!?" He moved away from Sakura's hands as she tried to clean up his face. "Since when were you friends with anyone? And when did you start actually telling people who you're friends with?"

"Naruto! Stop moving!" Sakura grabbed his face and mumbled. "Just like a child…"

"I'm not a child! I can do it myself!" The blond boy angrily grabbed the napkin and cleaned his own face before firing off more questions to his once best friend.

Naruto was silent after Sasuke didn't answer any of the questions he asked. The four had turned back to eating their food, but they stopped after Naruto mumbled, "Ino is Neji's so don't even try to sabotage their relationship, Sasuke."

The other three reacted immediately to Naruto's words.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled in a warning tone.

Ino threw her chopsticks at him like a two year old in a tantrum. "I'm not Neji's! We aren't dating!"

The most shocking reaction came from Sasuke, who had whispered his words so they would only reach Naruto's ears and not Sakura and Ino's. "She won't be for long."

The girls didn't hear Sasuke's statement, but as they tried to calm the boys down the two females noticed that one of them was going to get hurt soon. Naruto and Sasuke were no longer sitting in the ramen stand but standing outside of it. They were close together, even though they had nothing to say to each other.

Ino shivered at the stare that Naruto and Sasuke were giving to each other. Naruto's stare seemed more of a warning, but Sasuke's eyes made her nervous. The Uchiha survivor was challenging the blond boy. She didn't like it because the conversation had been about Neji.

Sakura quickly maneuvered herself between the boys. "So, why don't we go look around the shops! I saw a few things I might like to buy for future presents."

The boys backed off from each other. Whatever fight that might have happened was gone and Ino was secretly glad that Sakura's peacekeeping ways worked. The blond girl walked in front of the other three. "Let's start with the jewelry shop. I know of a few good gifts that the boys should get the girls."

The girls smirked at each other even though they hadn't said any specific names of who should get who what. Naruto groaned and Sasuke rolled his eyes, but the two males followed the girls anyway.

Ino whispered to Sakura as they headed to the farthest shop in the area. "That was good. For a second there I thought you were going to suggest the park."

"I almost did before I realized that there wouldn't be as many people or things to destroy there." Sakura answered. "I thought you were going to suggest seeing your shop first."

"I almost did before I realized that there wouldn't be that many things to destroy that would be as expensive as a jewelry shop."

The girls smiled to each other at their own cleverness. They had forgotten how well their schemes played out when they weren't working against each other. Neither of the four noticed a red headed female following them with angry eyes.

**XXX**

Karin glared at the longhaired blond female as she walked after them. Her arms were holding the arm of a man. No one would be able to recognize him, not even Sasuke since the man was in disguise. Madara Uchiha professionally posed as a wealthy older man who seemed completely harmless. He was just out on a stroll with his young granddaughter.

Madara paid no attention to the Kyuubi cell or Tsunade's famous student. The man didn't even pay any attention to the mind walking blond female either. He watched his only living family member with some amusement. Sasuke's reactions around his team and this girl were worth analyzing to the older Uchiha if it meant keeping the younger member of his family on the Akatsuki's side.

"What is so important about that girl that you have to pay attention to her as much as Sasuke does?" Madara asked, though he didn't want an answer, he wanted a reaction.

The red headed girl growled. "That hussy thinks she can come in and flip her hair and all the sudden Sasuke will drop everything just to watch her! She needs to learn that not all men are stupid enough to be head over heels with her. Besides, I've saved his life over and over again…What has she done? Nothing! She's worth absolutely nothing!"

Madara tuned out Karin's half mumbling, half-screaming tantrum. "Let's stop in that lovely flower shop in the middle of town."

"What?" Karin asked before she could stop herself. The older man ignored her, so it took a few minutes before his sentence sunk in. "Are we going to kill him to break her?"

The red headed girl's giddiness at bringing any kind of harm to the Yamanaka girl almost amused him. Almost. Madara shook his head. "No. He's not to be harmed. We're just going to use him to see how Sasuke reacts."

"Why would Sasuke react to that bimbo's dad being abducted? It's not like he'd actually get involved…"

Madara answered the younger girl's silent questions with one statement. "We shall see."

**XXX**

Sasuke smirked as Naruto nearly fell over a huge expensive piece of pottery. The girls had been dragging them high and low to make sure that a fight didn't happen.

The pretty boy wouldn't admit it to anyone, but the days when he was with his team or with Ino were the days he could say he was almost happy. Now he had both of the things he once cared about together and they knew about each other. Sasuke could say that the lightness in his stomach was that happiness that he was never allowed to have, but he chose to tell himself that he didn't eat today.

"Can we get more food? I'm starving!" Naruto called out to the giggling girls.

Sakura stomped her foot at the blond boy. "You just ate two hours ago! You don't need more food!"

Sasuke shook his head and ruled that the lightness in his stomach was food poisoning instead. Ino smiled up at him as if she was lost in the memories of the past as well.

The perfect moment between the four was shattered as the rest of the rookie nine showed up at the same time.

"Ino, Shikamaru told us that you were going on that dangerous mission! You sure you can handle it?" Kiba landed in between the blond girl and Sasuke as if he was trying to keep them a part.

"Yes, maybe it would be better if you…stay behind…" Hinata added in her own worried tone, though it was small and meek.

Shino nodded his agreement to his teammate's statements. Shikamaru just leaned up against one of the buildings walls. Chouji added in his own comment. "Yeah, it's not like you can win against someone that strong."

Sakura glanced at Ino. Naruto remained clueless as always. Sasuke was the one who spoke up. "She can handle a lot more than you losers can."

Kiba challenged Sasuke with a glare as the others watched. Ino remained speechless. She had felt ganged up on because they didn't believe in her, but if one person believed in her than she could get over what her friends thought.

"What is it any of your business anyway, Uchiha? You have nothing to do with Ino besides your own selfish wants."

The dog-loving boy pushed Sasuke. The pretty boy didn't budge. "You're wrong."

"How is he?" Shikamaru added. "What's so different now?"

The pretty boy held his head up high as he fixed a broken promise to the girl he once loved. "I'm not ashamed to say I'm her friend now."

**I've decided to try and add more into this story. I realized I cut off a lot of things that I should have tried to write out because I just wanted to get to my 1500 deadline and get it up on and over with. So here you are. I hadn't planned on writing out the day that Team 7 and Ino had, but I did it for all of you readers who love my story. Be sure to review! **

**Goal:** _1500 words.  
_**Actual Number:**_ 1773 words (give or take)_


	13. Chapter 13

The others continued to give their own opinions to Sasuke's sudden eagerness to stand up for the rude, loudmouthed blond female that he didn't care anything about before.

In between all of the outbursts, Ino spoke up. "None of you besides Sasuke thinks that I'm strong enough to stand on my own. You're all wrong! I was at the top of our class, which was at a higher rank than you Kiba! I don't need to prove myself to any of you! Why don't you all get a life instead of taking an interest in mine just because Sasuke is suddenly in it again? I've never relied on any of you, so don't try to make me rely on you!"

Ino turned away from the rest of Rookie Nine and stalked away to find Neji. The blond female hadn't really tried that hard in her own training or her training with Neji because she never thought that she was that weak. Now Ino was going to prove to her so-called-friends that they were a bunch of idiots who didn't know anything. She would prove that she was far stronger than the other members of the Rookie Nine.

"Ino, wait!"

She ignored their calls as she headed towards Neji's training grounds. Sasuke jumped in front of her, but before he could say anything, Ino noticed a kunai flying towards his back. The blond female hugged the pretty boy without a second thought and grabbed the weapon as it came towards them.

Sasuke pushed away from her, but Ino didn't see him. She was glaring at Karin. "What was that for, Ino?" The annoyance in his tone reminded her of what she did.

"Your friend Karin just threw this at your back." Ino answered as she held up the kunai to Sasuke's face. The blond female moved to go towards the red head, but the Uchiha survivor stopped her.

"Let's go the other way!" His voice was urgent, which set off alarms throughout Ino's body. She turned to Sasuke again. "Why?"

"The leader of the Akatsuki is with her." Sasuke grabbed Ino's hand and pulled her into the crowds to lose the two people that were following them. He pulled harder on her arm when she struggled, but as another weapon flew by her head Ino stopped fighting Sasuke and started running with him.

Sasuke stopped in front of Ino's flower shop. "Something's wrong. Why would he come after you and then chase both of us? Ino, is your father out on a mission?"

"No, he took this week off to take care of the flower shop so I could spend time with everyone. Dad is staying home until I get back from our mission..." Ino answered as she felt panic seize her. "Do you think they took dad?"

"You're shop is closed."

Ino ran up to the glass doors to see the closed sign. "He never leaves during our open hours…" Sasuke watched her as she clumsily pulled out her key to the shop and followed her as she ran inside. He only followed her to the counter, but waited while she looked around the rest of the place. The pretty boy, more focused on an envelope with the words _To Ino and Sasuke_ written in ink, didn't pay attention to the blond females worried calls.

"Ino, come here."

The loud female was about to start yelling at Sasuke for his order, but she stopped when she saw the envelope in his hand. "Why does that have our names on it?"

Sasuke opened the letter and read it. _"To my lovely Sasuke and Ino, you have made Karin quite upset by spending time together, so I have come to see if I can change that. Inoshi came with us easily and he won't be harmed until midnight tonight. You'll only find him by working together, not alone. Uchiha Madara."_

"Who's Madara? I thought all of your family was dead…" Sasuke sighed at Ino's question.

"You could say he's been around since the beginning of Konoha and left when it started." He was glad she didn't ask anymore. The Uchiha survivor was too busy thinking of how he could manipulate this to win Madara's challenge. Sasuke didn't care about Ino's father, but it would make his plan to sabotage her relationship with Neji backfire because he didn't try to help her get back her father.

"Let's find Karin. I think he would have left her behind so he could observe us."

Ino shivered. "You mean he's watching us right now?"

"No," Sasuke answered. "He's watching me." The pretty boy ignored the eye roll that his blond friend initiated as he walked out of the shop. He turned to see Ino already locking her families shop back up. "You're not coming with me."

"Did you read the note at all, Sasuke? You need me to get my father back and I'm not going to let any harm come to him just because you think you're almighty and powerful." Ino gave him a look that he ignored again.

The Uchiha survivor just surveyed their surroundings before he announced. "You better be able to keep up."

Ino didn't miss a beat running after Sasuke, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to keep up if they actually got into a fight. Fear built up inside her chest as Ino realized that she would have to prove herself worthy of Sasuke's earlier praise in order to keep him near. The loud female didn't want to admit it, but now that she had Sasuke back and willing to do anything to get her forgiveness she didn't know if she could let him go again…

The Uchiha compound loomed below them. Ino started to ask one of the many questions she had been holding back. "Will she be here?"

"She better be."

**XXX**

Karin gasped as Sasuke moved in front of her target. "He has to know that…"

"There's a weapon coming towards his back. Sasuke does, but he wants Ino to react to it." Madara finished for the younger female.

Anger flared through Karin as she witnessed the blond tramp hug her Sasuke and grab the weapon out of midair. "That…urg!"

"Go back to the Uchiha compound. I'll take Inoshi to the place you recommended." The older man ordered as he turned to Inoshi.

"You can't let me go back there! Sasuke's going to be angry at me!" The red head gasped in panic.

"Tell him it wasn't you."

Karin watched as the two men disappeared. She growled and stomped her foot into the ground. "Orochimaru was so much better than him!" She threw another weapon in anger, though she didn't care where it went. Now Karin wanted payback for being jerked around by Madara.

"It's time to make a deal with Suigetsu."

Sasuke spotted Karin running towards the Uchiha compound. He signaled to Ino and they both descended from the air on either side of the red head. She gasped as she looked between the two to see if there was a way out.

"What do you think you're doing, Karin?" Sasuke demanded more than he asked. Ino grabbed the scared red head by an arm and wrestled her to the ground.

"Where is my father!?" The loudmouthed blond female shoved the other girls head in the dirt.

Karin turned around and switched positions with Ino so that she was on top. The sound ninja put her hands around the blonds neck. "Like I'm ever going to tell a tramp like you! Stupid bitch!"

Sasuke interfered by grabbing Karin and holding her above the ground. "I suggest you listen to me right now or I will kill you."

The red headed female whimpered. "O-okay…"

"What did you tell Madara?"

"I didn't tell him anything!" Karin tried to think of someone else to blame. "It was….it was Suigetsu who told him, not me! I wouldn't do that to you!"

The Uchiha survivor let her fall to the floor and took off for one of the buildings. Ino had to struggle to keep up with the pretty boy. "Sasuke, wait! What is going on?" The blond female followed him through an open entrance where Sasuke had already grabbed one of the two boys by the neck.

"What did you tell Madara?!" Sasuke demanded again as Ino listened in to his response.

"What are you talking about, man? We've been here the whole time! It was Karin who's been taking off all the time!"

The Uchiha survivor was already out the door before Suigetsu finished his sentence and started complaining. Ino struggled to keep up with the pretty boy. She lost sight of him in the huge compound and started to panic.

"Sasuke? Sasuke?!"

"Sasuke isn't here at the moment." An unfamiliar voice stated as Ino whipped around to see what body belonged to the voice. She gasped as her eyes rested on...

****

**YES I DID CUT YOU OFF!**

**I only have classes Monday through Thursday this quarter, so I won't be able to update on Fridays, so there will be an extra week of updates that originally wasn't going to be there. Thank you for reading.**

**FOR ALL OF YOU SASUKE LOVERS! Neji has been in the lead by 1 or 2 votes for most of this fic. If you want to have Sasuke get ahead, then try to tell your friends and whatnot! Don't worry though, for those of you who are saving your vote for later I'll give you plenty of warning before I close the poll.**


	14. Chapter 14

**I've begun going through the earlier chapters to refresh my memory on what I wrote and I ended up kind of revising some of the chapters. I'll probably put them up after the story is over and after I go over all of the chapters. In addition, I've figured out something that is going to happen in the near future.**

**Are you prepared for the shock of your life?**

"Are you Itachi?" Ino yelped as she fell against the wall. He had surprised her and made her severely afraid at the same time. "Aren't you supposed to be dead? I mean…Well, Sasuke killed you! That's the only reason he was allowed back!"

The older Uchiha watched as the blond female hyperventilated. "Yes, I am Itachi. I need you to keep your voice down or I will kill you."

Ino was disgusted with herself as she listened to his order. Wasn't she supposed to be the one who wasn't afraid of criminals like him? Was she not that reckless anymore? She cursed Neji for teaching her to control herself more.

Itachi walked into Ino's space. He barely left any room in between them. "I need you to hold onto something for me."

"I'm not going to…" The blond female started to say in her regular tone, but his eyes stopped her.

"You will."

Everything went black. Ino didn't even feel herself slip towards the ground and into Itachi's waiting arms.

**XXX**

Sasuke did a quick search by air for Ino again. "How could she be that stupid? Doesn't her father mean anything to her?"

He had cornered Karin again and she had broken down immediately. The young Uchiha had to endure the fit she had thrown. The red head rambled on about her jealousies until she had finally gotten to the part of where Madara took Ino's mother. After he left Karin Sasuke had realized that Ino was nowhere in sight and probably was left behind in his hurry.

A sudden fear built inside his chest. She was not inside the Uchiha compound…and the blond female wouldn't have wandered off due to her father being kidnapped. Someone had taken Ino Yamanaka.

Sasuke changed the direction of his path. He decided that he was going to head towards Madara and Inoshi on his own because he was sure that the older Uchiha had taken the girl as well.

The pretty boy didn't know how wrong he was.

**XXX**

The wind stirred in a strange way that made Neji stiffen. He instinctively knew that something was wrong. The whole day had been a mess for him. First, his uncle and Hinata were fighting, and Tenten asking him out. Now as he sparred with his team Neji knew that something worse was happening at that moment.

Ino was in danger.

Neji sent a look to his teammates before he left. They didn't need for him to say anything. Even Lee could feel the change in the wind, which worried the Hyuuga boy more.

The byakugan was activated as Neji traveled throughout town and into the Uchiha compound. Ino's chakra was everywhere, like she had been running on a wild goose chase…or for her life.

Neji stopped at an abandoned building deep on the Uchiha's property. He froze when he noticed who was with Ino inside the house. Only one thing crossed the older boy's mind before he entered the building.

What was Itachi Uchiha doing alive?

**XXX**

Itachi watched over Ino's sleeping body. A few mixed feelings passed through the cold-hearted male. He had watched Sasuke throughout the years. When he was with and without this blond girl. A small smirk crept its way onto Itachi's face when he felt a Hyuuga land outside of the condemned building he had moved the girl to. His wait was finally over.

"Neji, there is something I need you to do."

The younger male stiffened at the familiar use of his name. "I will never do anything for any traitor, especially not you!"

"That's too bad. I suppose that Ino will have to die now."

"Wait!" Neji reached out a hand, even though the Uchiha hadn't moved. "What exactly do you want?"

Itachi handed a scroll over to Neji. "I need this to never get into any Uchiha hands ever again, but it cannot be destroyed. I would have originally given this to Ino; however, I now think that she would eventually hand it over to Sasuke. It is too important to be in my little brother's hands."

"Weren't you the one who told Sasuke about this in the first place?"

"No," Itachi answered. "Madara had fed Sasuke an illusion that he had killed me. Now my little brother is under his control. The scroll won't be safe unless it's in someone's hands who will make sure no one ever lays eyes on it again. You are the only one who qualifies."

Disbelief and suspicion raced throughout Neji. He couldn't believe that the real Itachi would trust someone like him with something so important as an 'all powerful scroll' and actually explain in more than a sentence or two about the reason behind it.

Sadly, either way they were all caught up in Madara's schemes. The only question was; could they trust each other enough to kill the eldest Uchiha?

**I know this is really weird to have Itachi alive and I shouldn't have because now I'm tempted to make it a kind of love square thing… I just feel the need to add Itachi in because he needs lots of Ino love and ItachiXIno is my all time favorite pairing. I'll be good though, he won't be added in. However, I really wish for it!**

**I bet you never guessed that this was how the chapter was going to go! Don't worry, I didn't think this was how it was going to go either. Reviews make the author happy!**

**Sorry, this one had to be a small chapter. I'm not happy about it, but you have to have the update!**


	15. Chapter 15

_**Sorry I didn't update Thursday, Monday, and Tuesday, but there was no school on Monday and I didn't feel like updating on Thursday and this chapter wasn't ready on Tuesday. Here you go with Chapter 15! Finally…**_

Sasuke landed in front of Madara and Inoshi. "You did not bring Ino. Inoshi has to die now, Sasuke."

"Where did you take Ino?" The youngest Uchiha demanded more than asked. Madara turned away from the Yamanaka back towards Sasuke. He didn't speak, which worried the pretty boy.

"It is your lucky day, Inoshi. You may go free." The eldest Uchiha knocked the blond man out and called for Pein to take him back into town.

"Where is Ino?" Sasuke asked again, though Madara gave no answer. He just 'poofed' away, leaving the younger boy completely alone. Anger spread throughout his body as he turned around to travel back to the Uchiha compound.

_What does it mean if Madara wasn't the one who took Ino? _Sasuke narrowed his eyes when he noticed that Neji and Ino were both inside the compound. For a moment he thought he felt someone else, but before he could register who it was the person was gone.

Sasuke landed in front of the blond girl, completely ignoring the older male. "Where did you go?"

"I'm not sure…" Ino answered, though he could tell she was lying. "Is my dad okay?"

"Yes, for some reason…" The pretty boy stopped his explanation when he remembered that there was an outsider with them. "Why are you here, Neji?"

"Our mission was bumped up to tomorrow instead of the end of the week. I came here to find the both of you." Neji answered smoothly, but Sasuke could tell that he was lying as well. Sasuke weighed the options in his head of what might happen if he called them out, but decided not to. He turned away from the both of them and left without another word.

"Yes, I'm fine Sasuke, no need to ask!" Ino called after him. She turned back to Neji, "Our mission isn't really moved up, is it?"

"No, I just said it to avoid answering his question."

Ino whined, "Now we'll have to leave tomorrow! I was going to go shopping before we left."

Neji gave her an annoyed glance. "I think you have more to worry about than a shopping trip. Come on, let's go to the hokage and tell her that we need the mission bumped up."

"Should we tell her what happened?"

"No," The older boy answered after a moment. "I want to make sure I know exactly what we're getting into before we go to Hokage-sama."

"What's gotten into you Neji? I thought you never kept important information from Tsunade." Ino told him as they traveled towards the Hokage's tower.

"I only withhold information when I know that others would get involved and make a mess of things. If she orders anyone to go after either Madara or Itachi, then it will make it harder for me to understand what exactly is going on."

"I don't know…" Ino answered. "This entire situation seems too risky."

Neji smirked at her from over his shoulder. "I thought you weren't one to fear risky situations? Didn't you say that you wanted to prove yourself against the rest of the rookie nine?"

The blond female gave a yell, "Bring on the Uchiha secrets!" He shook his head at her loud sentence.

**XXX**

Tsunade gave Ino and Neji a stare that said she didn't quite believe their story. "And you think I should move up your mission because of Sasuke's impatience?"

"Yes," Neji answered simply, which left Ino to explain further.

"Really Tsunade, we all just want to get this over with." Ino placed a hand on her hip, while waiting for the older woman's answer, "Plus, Sasuke has a right to be impatient. We need to know how Kabuto is handling Orochimaru inside his body and the questions just keep piling up!"

"We need the answers now, before we have yet another threat to Konoha." Neji finished.

The two watched as Tsunade folded her hands in front of her face. The older woman sighed. "Alright, but you don't have all the time in the world for it. Be there long enough to figure out what's going on, then come straight back. I don't want any fights or any deaths. I have enough to worry about without having to explain why two of my best ninjas died on a spy mission."

Ino gave her a big smile. "Thank you, sensei!"

Tsunade smiled back, "Just remember that you have a lot to catch up on when you get back. You probably won't be given any missions for awhile."

Neji watched as the blond female skipped out of the room before he turned back to the older woman. "I cannot give you all the details right now, but Uchiha Itachi is alive."

She froze. "It can't be."

"It is." Neji turned away from her to leave as well. "I plan on finding out all the information I can about the Akatsuki as well as Itachi; however, I need to make sure you can keep anyone else away while I'm finding that information."

"Yes," Tsunade started. "I suppose I can do that for you, Neji."

"Thank you."

The female sannin watched as the Hyuuga boy left. She called outside the door. "Shizune! I want my sake!"

"NO! You remember what happened last time!" The younger female yelled back.

"There's an exception this time."

Shizune made a complaint under her breath as she entered the room. "How many excuses can you give?"

Tsunade didn't reply, she just stared out the window of the Hokage Tower.

**XXX**

Ino jumped on her dad when she entered the flower shop. "Dad! I'm so glad you're okay!"

"What are you talking about honey? I've been here all day." Inoshi gave his daughter a confused look.

The loud female giggled a little, "Oh, um… The mission was moved to tomorrow!" She fidgeted as her father analyzed her.

"Are you sure you can handle the mission? You didn't get much time to train…"

Ino gave her dad a sheepish look. "Yeah, I wish I did have more time to train… I'm really worried about having to keep up with both Sasuke and Neji now. They're alright when they are alone, but there will probably some 'male dominance' thing going on, and I don't think I can really handle chasing them all over the world."

Inoshi laughed. After his amusement settled down he gave Ino a serious look. "I wasn't going to teach you this until you were eighteen, but I think you'll need it now."

"What are you going to teach me, dad!?"

The older blond man switched the sign to close and led his daughter out of the flower shop. He headed towards the jonin training grounds. "You'll see."

**XXX**

Itachi remained impassive as Madara unknowingly passed the house that he was hiding inside. He moved to leave the Uchiha compound as quickly as he could. Itachi had a new hiding place now and it had Ino's name written all over it.

A sigh passed through the unemotional man's lips when he deactivated his sharingan. Itachi barely saw anything these days without it. He laid himself down on Ino's bed, just waiting for her to come back from training with her father.

He didn't even realize that he fell asleep a few minutes later.

**XXX**

Ino gave a snort and almost fell over. She had her pack by her side and Neji and Sasuke were waiting for her at the gate.

"Did you just fall asleep, Ino?" Sakura asked with some worry. The two males turned their eyes to the blond girl.

She squirmed under their attention, "It's no big deal, forehead. Dad and I stayed up all night. He taught me a new technique."

The pink haired girl glared at her best friend. "Shouldn't you have stopped to get some sleep?"

Ino shrugged before she gave her best friend a farewell. Sakura had showed up at the gate to say goodbye, since she was obviously worried about her best friend and first crush.

"Good luck Ino." Sakura whispered before she turned away from the gate to go back to the hospital. "I seriously think you won't survive without it…"

Sasuke led the way towards the sound village…And towards an unknown decision he didn't know he had to make.

_**I'd like to thank you guys for giving me your reviews on how much you like this fan fic. I honestly didn't know I could update it this far and it's been getting hard for me to write it. I've found out that it's easier to write a one shot than a whole story. Keep those reviews coming and I will keep writing!**_


	16. Chapter 16

Ino sighed in between Neji and Sasuke. The two boys were currently in a glaring match after they had argued on how to build a fire. Now the blond girl was not only annoyed, but cold as well.

She felt a shiver come, but refused to show the boys that she was cold because they might just decide to put an arm around her, and then there would be a fist fight. Ino rolled her eyes. "I'm going to bed in the tent and you two are going to sleep out here."

As Ino entered her tent she sighed again. Two very hot boys were fighting over her and instead of taking full opportunity of it; she was annoyed with both of them. What was wrong with her lately!? Did she suddenly turn into Tenten? Or worse… Hinata?! Fear raced up Ino's spine at the thought of turning into that spineless girl, no matter how sweet she was.

The blond girl covered herself with an open sleeping bag; she always hated it when they were zipped up because they made her feel as if she was being suffocated. Ino turned her head away from the tent opening so she wouldn't have to see the boys' outlines against the fire one of them must have just built. A feeling of sudden complete exhaustion hit her. Ino was suddenly happy that Neji had fought with Sasuke to stop the first night, since she didn't get any sleep.

As Ino entered her dream world she felt something slide up to cuddle both of her sides.

**XXX**

_Magma slammed against the thin rock Ino was standing on. She looked all around her, but didn't find an opening to leave. Suddenly, a swift breeze moved her hair and it was ice cold. Ino gazed above her only to see two faces. One was Neji and one was Sasuke._

"_Grab my hand, Ino!" The long haired boy called as he reached his hand down into the volcano. Sasuke was at the other end, but he didn't say anything as he reached down to give her his hand. Ino reached up and grabbed their open hands with both of hers. The two males pulled her from the volcano. She briefly floated above the magma before they started pulling her a part. _

Ino gave a choked scream and tried to sit up, but quickly realized that she couldn't. On either side of her were both of the boys, who she had told to stay out of the tent. The blond female untangled herself from their arms and shivered in the early morning cold.

She stood outside the tent as the sun was rising. The three of them still had two more days until they made it to the Sound village. Ino began packing up, because she knew that the other two would be ready to leave as soon as they woke up. Ino giggled at the thought of Sasuke and Neji accidently cuddling up to each other and waking up that way, but put it out of her mind since they would most likely fight to the death out of embarrassment anyway.

Every item that the three brought with them Ino packed up, except for what was in the tent and the tent itself. She covered up the remains of the fire and took three energy bars out of her bag for later. Ino was still halfway through hers before both of her male teammates walked out of the tent.

Ino watched both males silently glare at each other before they each grabbed one of the energy bars and started taking the tent down.

"So, we're going to continue traveling at night as well and then rest close to Sound before we go in, right?" Ino asked.

"Yes, that way we don't take two days to travel." Neji answered.

Sasuke nodded at them as the last of the tent was packed away. He jumped onto a large tree branch and continued to lead the way into Sound. The other two followed behind without another word.

**XXX**

Ino watched the sun set as the boys finished going to the bathroom. Sasuke had decided that whatever _needs_ they had to get done would be at sunset so they wouldn't have to stop at all during the night. The blond female sighed in worry before she joined the waiting boys to leave their short resting stop. She had never continued travelling at night before. Her team had always stopped for the night…

A nagging feeling at the back of Ino's mind made her worried more. They were going to get attacked tonight. She just knew it.

Both Neji and Sasuke were on edge as well. They must have felt it too because they actually agreed with each other to leave the tent behind along with any other item that they wouldn't need. Now the only thing all three of them had was their weapons and the clothes on their bodies.

Ino gave the boys a strange smirk as she walked up to them.

"Are you ready, Ino?"

She gave them a nod. Ino was ready to fight. She was finally ready to prove herself an equal to not only Sakura, but to Sasuke and Neji as well.

"Let's go boys!"

_**I'm sorry I haven't updated as much as I promised, but this week was a busy one for me. I'll try to get my procrastinating act together so you'll all have the rest of your updates soon! Thanks for all of your reviews, you spoil me, really!**_

_**SORRY THIS IS SHORT! However, I don't want to ruin any surprises this chapter, they can be ruined next chapter… And you might get to see Ino's new technique! But only might!**_


	17. Chapter 17

Out of all the things Ino expected she never expected the sight before her. There were millions of bodies lying all over the Sound village.

"Whoever was following us must have done this." Neji stated.

Sasuke looked off towards the horizon. "It must have been Orochimaru then."

"Either that or Kabuto," Ino agreed. "We still don't know for sure…" She glanced down at the limp body of a young boy who must have been only eight years old. Sorrow built inside of her heart as she added to her two team mates, "There are no survivors."

"No, there aren't." Neji agreed as he scanned the place from top to bottom with his eyes. Even the usual completely prepared older boy flinched at some sight or another that Sasuke and Ino couldn't see. "Let's go forward. The worst of the bodies are towards the far left of the village, not in the middle."

The Uchiha boy seemed to be beyond agitated with the older boy's orders. "I know my way around here. I don't need you to tell me where I can and cannot go."

As Sasuke turned his back on the other two Neji spoke up again, "I was saying that for Ino. I'm sure that she doesn't want to see what your former _sensei _did to these people."

Ino watched as Sasuke gave her a look before she decided to speak up. "I can handle myself. I don't need you to protect me!" She said the words with anger, though that was not how she truly felt. The blond female was glad for Neji's consideration, but she couldn't be seen as weak by either of these males. Ino just knew that she had to prove herself an equal to keep her missions with Neji or all the respect she earned from everyone would fall apart.

The three walked through the middle of the village. Ino watched as the two boys' grew tenser as they headed into enemy territory. The eyes they felt earlier in the day returned. She felt as if she was suddenly walking into a trap.

_We won't be able to get out of here without a fight._ Ino thought, but it was more than a thought. She knew as soon as it popped into her mind that it was more of a reality than the millions of dead bodies that surrounded them. Ino had a worse thought. _We might not make it out alive._

**XXX**

Itachi observed Sound village from the outside. He felt almost unwilling to enter it. However, he had no choice as Ino, Neji, and his little brother Sasuke disappeared into the tallest building. The Uchiha murderer knew that there were eyes watching them from that tower and a sudden realization hit him that whatever was watching those three was now watching him.

The tower seemed to sink into the ground and Itachi had no time to waste. He saw the figure standing on top of the tower and knew it was the thing that Orochimaru and Kabuto had become together. Still, there was no preparing for what Itachi faced when he landed in front of that person that couldn't even be called human anymore. He gave no words to it; just a simple challenge to fight for the death.

Itachi would not let this thing get near his little brother, not like Madara was able to.

**XXX**

Sasuke observed the place that was once so familiar and yet so different now. The bodies made him unusually uncomfortable. Whatever Kabuto had become with Orochimaru, they must have become an entirely different person. Neither one of them would have slaughtered endlessly in their own home. And if they would have there would be someone left alive to pick up the mess for them.

The Uchiha survivor closed his eye momentarily as he thought of what to do next. He refused to let the Hyuuga just scan the place from top to bottom and be done with it, but before Sasuke could propose what his group should do next he heard Neji speak.

"There's a fight going on above us!"

Ino gasped, "Is it coming towards us?"

Neji nodded and Sasuke paused to glare at the older boy. The Hyuuga was stealing his attention, and the pretty boy didn't like it.

Sasuke's anger calmed down as their female teammate turned her blue eyes towards him, "Sasuke, do you know where we can hide to do a surprise attack if need be?" He nodded at her.

"Ino, we're not supposed to be getting in any kind of fight, have you forgotten that already?" Neji scolded.

"We'll go this way," Sasuke announced as he ignored the look of embarrassment on Ino's face. He swore he would get back at Neji for that later.

**XXX**

Itachi grabbed his side, where a wound was bleeding freely. Orochimaru had become stronger, even stronger than Itachi himself.

He groaned as he avoided another attack from the snake man. He sighed as he disappeared in a puff of smoke; apologizing for not being able to keep Sasuke safe.

**XXX**

Ino blinked at the hiding places that Sasuke and Neji were in. The three of them were spread out from each other in the largest room Sasuke could find. Neji had been wary about having them so far away from each other, but Sasuke pushed the comment off without a word. The loud girl had nothing to say, since she thought it wasn't best to get involved in their pissing contest of sorts so she hid in her spot like a good little girl.

She was just about to readjust her position again when the two boys stiffened in unison. Normally, she would have laughed if she didn't feel an overwhelmingly powerful presence…and it was just behind her.

The room was too still for a moment before the boys moved out of their hiding places towards her.

"Ino, get down!" Sasuke ordered.

"Get away from there now!" Neji added.

Ino tried to duck and roll away, but found herself being pulled backwards. She turned to look at the person who had a hold of her leg and she screamed.

The thing that had a hold of her wasn't looking directly at her. Orochimaru and Kabuto had indeed become one. The obvious struggle for control over their combined body put their appearance at sorts. Some parts of him she could clearly define as Kabuto and the others she guessed were Orochimaru. Ino whimpered as he pulled her even closer.

"Ssssso, my student. Decided to come back home I see." The blond haired girl looked towards the boys to see Neji flinch and Sasuke glare, even his voice changed in between the two men that were trapped within one body.

"Let her go." The Hyuuga tried to order, "Fight us instead."

The monster tightened his grip while he shook his head, "I believe she has become a weakness of sorts for our dear Sasuke here…And you know how we can't have that."

Ino gave a little squeal as he turned her around. She was on her knees in front of him with him holding onto her hair. The blond vaguely remembered Sakura being in the same place before, but Ino was too shaken up and scared to use the same trick to get away from the Orochimaru-Kabuto thing.

She felt even more ashamed when a tear slipped down her cheek. _Stupid Ino! You have a chance to prove you're just as good as Neji and Sasuke and what do you do? You cry! Damn it!_ Ino berated herself.

"Then kill her."

Ino gasped. It was Sasuke who spoke. The very boy who she had loved and who had been causing all this trouble for her had just told a monster to kill her.

However there was no time to think or feel anything because right after Sasuke's statement he had launched himself straight at the thing behind her. As soon as she felt him make contact she ran towards Neji as he prepared himself to fight. With a side look towards Ino, she nodded towards the long haired boy and watched as he entered the fight.

Sasuke was completely vicious as he swiped his sword towards Orochimaru-Kabuto. Neji showed more controlled movements with the same kind of ruthlessness. Both males aimed to kill. Now that she was technically out of harm's way she let the anger that she had felt the second Sasuke stated that the monster he was fighting could kill her.

She didn't know how she was going to do it, but she was going to make him pay. There was no way Ino was going to let him get away with that trick.

_**Yes I know I've been neglecting my updates and such, but hopefully I can get myself to update more often now. Thank you all for your reviews. I greatly appreciate them and they really do help get my lazy butt in gear for updating.**_

**Don't forget to vote in the poll. Sasuke had actually been in first place last time I looked and both him and Neji have been tied a time or too as well.**


	18. Chapter 18

Ino dodged in and out of rooms in the huge maze of Orochimaru's former headquarters. The fight had taken both Neji and Sasuke out of her sight. She kept moving, trying to find where they had gone. As the blond entered another empty room she heard a sound that could only be classified as metal on metal.

"Found them!"

She ran out of the room and continued running hallway after hallway. Here or there she would turn or stop only to hear something else that classified that there was a fight close by. An impossibly huge doorway came into view and Ino suddenly found herself mumbling about Orochimaru's annoying flare for the dramatic.

A loud slam was heard as she approached the doorway. Ino flinched. "Ouch, that must have hurt." She ran into the room without a second thought only to see Sasuke glaring towards her. Following his eyes she spotted Neji and quickly figured out that he was the one who was slammed into the wall.

"What are you guys doing? Where's our target?"

Neji groaned as he pushed himself away from the wall. Ino hurried over to him as he tipped to his side and fell. She ducked under his arm and wrestled with his weight for a second before she balanced their combined weight and helped him to stand up.

Someone laughed. Her eyes searched the room but she couldn't find the one who had expressed some amusement at Neji's injuries.

"That's it!" Ino screamed. "I'm so sick of you and your games! Come out here now!"

He poofed in between the three of them, "Now now, no need to get upset. All we're doing is playing a little game."

As he walked closer Ino's fear returned. He was more powerful than she was. She couldn't even begin to figure out how she was supposed to get Neji out of here with both of them alive since it appeared that Sasuke had once again switched sides.

"Sasuke just began to understand that there was no need for this little fool."

At his name Sasuke followed the Orochimaru-Kabuto person closer to her and Neji. Ino turned to tell Neji that she would use her family jutsu on the male that was closest when she saw a look pass through his eyes.

"I can stand by myself Ino."

She was about to protest when she saw the other boy shake his head. _They fought against each other to feed his ego, so they could eventually catch him off guard._ Ino played along. "You have Sasuke back, let us leave."

He snickered as Sasuke prepared to attack. She switched tactics. "You really don't want to do this Sasuke, he's just manipulating you!"

"I'm not being manipulated."

Neji defended against Sasuke's attack. A stream of blood floated briefly in the air before falling to the floor.

"Stop it!"

The two boys moved around and attacked each other before their target was once again in between them. The moved forward as he stopped laughing. Ino figured the realization must have just hit him. A second later there was a literal translation of that statement as both Neji and Sasuke attacked Orochimaru-Kabuto with all of their combined power.

Both boys moved towards the exit without a word. The mission was done and the only one among them who couldn't think clearly was Ino. She gazed after them and looked back towards the older man's dead body.

"Well, at least he looks better now."

"Come on Ino." Neji ordered. She gave a little run to catch up with them as they continued walking away.

**XXX**

She sat by Neji's side as she fixed up his wounds. Every so often her eyes turned to glare across the fire in the middle of their camp to glare at Sasuke.

"It needed to be done, Ino."

Ino threw up her hands as she stood up. "NO IT DIDN'T! You could have done anything else, but say that you'd let me die without a care in the world beyond your stupid habit of getting in fights!"

"I didn't say that." He sighed as the loud blond continued her tirade.

She screeched at him and kicked some random object into the bushes before she sat away from both males and glared at the fire.

"Stupid boys and their stupid testosterone," Ino crossed her arms. "Always have to get their way without considering anyone else's feelings."

_How did I get dragged into Ino's anger?_ Neji wondered briefly before he closed his eyes.

Sasuke glared back at the girl with the same force she was glaring at him. "Is that really necessary?"

"Yes." Ino pouted.

They both scooted away from her. Ino's pout was just like how a regular girl cried to make her boyfriend feel like a bully so she could get her way.

"Don't." Sasuke gritted out before he looked away from her, "Don't do that."

"I'LL DO WHATEVER I WANT YOU ASS!" She grabbed a rock and threw it at him. The rock caught him off guard since he was doing some mumbling of his own. Sasuke was about to turn back to glare at Ino when he caught Neji's smirk.

Ino watched their glaring match with a giggle. They turned towards her. "Ha ha, I actually hit Uchiha Sasuke!"

Neji and Sasuke gave her their own equivalents of eye rolls as she continued to giggle into the night.

**XXX**

The three stood side-by-side with Ino in the middle as they gave their report directly to Tsunade. The much older woman leaned over her desk without looking at any of them. "So…he's really dead, huh?"

Ino felt an urge to apologize but the she met her eyes and Tsunade held up a hand. "It's ok, Ino. Well…" She started as she sat back down in her desk. "At least now we have one less thing to worry about. All three of you are dismissed."

The younger blond female turned her head to watch the older woman as she exited the room. Ino briefly found herself wondering if she would have the same sad gaze on her face if Sasuke hadn't come back and had eventually died a traitor.

She frowned to herself, already knowing the answer.

**XXX**

"You're back!" Karin expressed happily as she jumped on her crush. "I was so worried about you! How did it go?"

"Both Orochimaru and Kabuto are dead."

The red head was surprised by his statement. All she could do was watch as he quietly walked towards his bedroom.

"He's…" Karin started, "He's dead…"

**XXX**

Gai puffed out his chest proudly as Neji completed his shortened version of the mission, "Ah, such youth! You put aside your rivalry to defeat one of the most dangerous foes of Konoha!"

"Sensei, Neji and Sasuke do not have a rivalry." Tenten stated slowly in hopes the eccentric man would listen.

"I remember well once when Kakashi and I…!"

Tenten and Neji rolled their eyes at the teacher's melodramatics and at their third teammate, Lee, who was paying attention to every detail. "What happened after that sensei?"

**XXX**

Ino sighed as she entered her room. On her bed was Uchiha Itachi. Suddenly feeling very grouchy, Ino stomped up to the bed and grabbed a corner of the covers. She pulled the covers hoping she would make him fall out of bed, but they came off too easily, showing there was no weight of a body connected to it.

"Where did he…?"

Ino gasped as she felt his aura behind her, she spun to look towards the Uchiha only to notice he was injured.

"It is not wise to play pranks on an injured criminal." Itachi stated coldly as she rolled her eyes. "Now that you're here, heal me."

"You know it's not smart to order someone to heal you, they might just do the opposite." Ino held back from poking him in the chest.

Itachi was quick to comeback with a comment, "Not if the person who was injured could easily kill that healer."

"Touche." Ino got to work on obeying his order; _I can see he's not in the mood to play nice today._

"Where did you get this injury anyway?"

"It's..."

Ino scoffed, "None of my business. Yeah, yeah."

She healed the wound, all the while wondering if Sasuke was going to try to get her to forgive him.

**XXX**

"You summoned me, Uncle?" Neji announced to a room empty of its normal Hyuuga family members. He briefly wondered what could be so important that his uncle was talking to him alone instead of with the Main Branch members.

"Yes, nephew, it's time we talk about your future in our clan."

**A slightly quicker update and hopefully this means an end to my procrastination. Pfft. Probably not though. **

**Thank you reviewers! I mucho love you! If I could I would force Neji and Sasuke to give kisses to you, but then they'd probably work together and end up killing me. O.O**


	19. Chapter 19

**First of all I want to say I'm sorry for it taking so long to update this again. Secondly, I plan on updating this sporadically. I'm shooting for once a week, but it might end up being once every other week. Hopefully some of you who had supported this story before will come and support it once again and give me reviews.**

Neji sat stiffly, in perfect posture in front of his uncle. After Hiashi's brief explanation both Hyuuga's were silent as they were waiting for the servants to bring them tea.

His uncle sipped on the tea, but Neji didn't touch it. He waited patiently for the knowledge of why he was summoned beyond the offhanded comment that was made before. A clack was heard as the tea cup was placed back on the saucer.

"I have only daughters."

"Yes, uncle, what does that have to do with me?" Neji's rude comment earned him a glare from Hiashi.

"A female cannot lead the Hyuuga household. It is disgraceful. Therefore, you will become a main branch member. You will be the heir. I do not have to waste time explaining your own accomplishments to you as a shinobi of Konoha as well as how you conduct yourself for our clan. It is disagreeable to many of the main branch elders that you are a branch member however, with circumstances the way they are we have no choice but to overlook it."

Neji mulled over his uncles words. "What about the seal on my forehead?"

"It will be changed along with your status."

The two males were silent for a couple more minutes until the servants cleared the dishes. Neji hadn't been thinking about Ino, but she suddenly popped into his head when his uncle stood up and left with one more parting comment.

"You will be getting married before you are announced the heir. Don't disappoint me."

Sasuke Uchiha would definitely be out of the running for Ino's heart if she married Neji. A plan started to formulate in the young man's mind.

XXX

Ino woke up on the floor. Her back was all out of sorts and she was grumpy enough to take on even the most hardened scariest criminal.

Then she thought again when she saw the mess of her hair. "Ah! There are so many knots!"

Vanity had always won out over practicality, so Ino began the long process of becoming beautiful enough to go out in public. Boys and missions were far from her mind.

For her sake, she probably should have thought about it at least a little.

XXX

Sasuke lifted his shirt and threw it onto the side of the field before continuing to train again. Sweat was dripping off every available surface on him, but he didn't seem to notice.

His muscles ached. He was taking ragged breathes. It was all proof of him pushing the limit of his body until the point of collapse.

It was only times like these that Sasuke's mind went from anger and chaos to the method of movements he was able to do to reach a target.

Today, he needed to be mindless especially since he was so aggravated at Ino. Why didn't she understand that there needed to be sacrifices in order to reach the goals people set? And he hadn't really put her in any harm with the mission. He had everything under control.

Sasuke wasn't an eight year old boy anymore, after all.

Ino never understood things like that though. She was about trust, companionship, and she would never think to betray the village as much as it might betray her. The blond female was made of stuff that Sasuke didn't even believe in anymore. She represented everything that was ripped away from him.

He hated that.

Try as he might, he could never corrupt her. Her ideals never changed. Even when the situation wasn't black and white there were absolutes that Ino stood by when she had no other ground to walk on.

What was Sasuke supposed to do now? Grovel at her feel? Did he want her that much that he would throw away everything?

He didn't know. He didn't know how to answer any of millions of questions that whirled around his head.

So instead he punched at the wooden target.

XXX

Ino's hands were on her hips as she regarded her bed. Itachi had slept in it, more than once by the look of it. She hadn't seen him when she woke up this morning, but seeing his injuries firsthand had worried her.

Still her bed smelled like him and she didn't want to sleep where he had. The blond girl also had a feeling that Itachi would be back, so there was no point in washing a bed that was just going to be slept in by a hardened criminal once again.

Ino left to go work at the hospital instead. She wanted peace and quiet, not problems that were best left until later.

She wasn't quite sure why Itachi seemed much more vulnerable than he should be.

XXX

Karin tried to talk to Sasuke a multitude of times. She constantly had the appearance of a fish, opening and closing her mouth. However, even if she were able to express what she wanted to say the Uchiha wasn't paying any attention. He was too determined to train until he collapsed.

_Orochimaru… Is really dead? He…He can't be. And Kabuto…_

The red haired girl had admired Orochimaru. She worked hard for him. In just one moment it seemed everything had fallen to pieces.

Kabuto… Such a kind presence compared to their snake-like leader.

Karin felt empty with all of the loss she had experienced. She had hoped to talk it out with Sasuke, but he seemed upset about something entirely different.

She kept watching the pretty boy. His sharp movements were becoming a mantra in her head. _Right kick, left punch, spin kick, flip, rapid punches…_

**Don't forget to vote on the poll on my profile. Sorry the chapter is a little short this time. Sasuke's in the lead right now O.o**


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